Game of Life
by exocara
Summary: From the moment he had woken up to see names and levels floating over people's heads, Sawada Tsunayoshi knew that something was really, really wrong. Drabble series, crackish, very, very mild All27 that will show up later.
1. Pre-Chaos, Chapter I

Summary: From the moment he had woken up to see names and levels floating over people's heads, Sawada Tsunayoshi knew that something was really wrong. | Drabble series, crackish, very, very mild All27 that will show up later.

Inspired by, and making use of some of the mechanics in, The Gamer by Sun San-young and Sang-ah

**This is a pilot chapter. I am unsure if I will continue this.**

* * *

**Game start!**

Ten year Sawada Tsunayoshi had a problem.

"Tsu-kun, hurry up! You're going to be late for school!" his mother frowned down at him from beside his bed. Now, that wasn't a problem – rather, it was a near daily occurrence – the problem was the orange thing that was floating on top of her head.

[Sawada Nana, Level 30]

Without bothering to acknowledge his mother's words, Tsuna jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Sure enough, in bright orange letters, a strong of words floated above his head.

[Sawada Tsunayoshi, Level 10]

It was in that very moment, that Tsuna realised that something was terribly wrong with the universe.

* * *

**Menu**

The first time Tsuna accessed the game menu, he got a huge shock. Anyone would have, if the entire world around them dimmed, and everything crawled to a stop. An orange window had flickered into existence before him, and Tsuna realised that he couldn't move his feet at all.

He would _never_ admit to anyone that he had just stood there and cried for three solid minutes.

The next time he activated the game menu, he was prepared. This time, he took note of what was written on the screen.

"Status, skills, party, items, and quest log, huh?" Tsuna muttered to himself. "Oh man, this is so complicated."

He chose to look at 'status' first. Apparently, he was a ten year old at Namimori Elementary, with absolute zero popularity and academic skill. Well, nothing he already didn't know, but it was kind of depressing to have it confirmed. He quickly moved on to skills and wasn't surprised to see that there were only three of them.

[_Blood of the Vongola_, innate ability, Level 1]

Tsuna tried to find out more about it, but it seemed that that was all. He moved to look at the next one.

[_Hyper Intuition_, passive ability, Level 0

Requires _Blood of the Vongola_ Level 1]

Curious, Tsuna tried to find out more about it.

[_Hyper Intuition_ give one extraordinary perception of the world around them. _Hyper Intuition_ can be increased by observing people and trying to predict their next action, and by following your instincts!]

Alright, that was weird. Moving on.

[_Flames of the Sky_, innate ability, Level -1]

…What the hell?

* * *

**Quests and Storylines**

At first, Tsuna wondered why there was a gold question mark floating above his mother's head. Then he approached her and found out.

"Ah, Tsu-kun!" his mother exclaimed. "Could you run to the shop to get me a few things for dinner? Thanks!"

[Quest accepted: Retrieval type. Read more?]

Tsuna blinked.

[Quest details: Retrieve ingredients for dinner from the grocery store. 2 hour time limit. Quest rewards: 300xp]

"…Okay mum." Tsuna nodded and walked out of the house without another word. Nana paused in her actions, frowning contemplatively.

"Hmm…" she muttered. "Usually I need to convince him to go to the shop for me. I wonder why the sudden change of heart."

* * *

Somewhere on the way to the store, something registered in Tsuna's mind. He stopped in his tracks.

"Game menu. Quest log."

Sure enough, sitting above the list of accepted quests were the words "Story: Pre-Chaos".

"Hiieee! What's that supposed to mean?!"

* * *

**Social Bonds**

Tsuna was in the midst of taking a carton of milk from the shelf when something told him to turn around. Remembering the _Hyper Intuition_ skill, he did so just in time to witness a trolley, stacked with cardboard boxes, rolling towards a young girl with black hair at a dangerously high speed. Both the person pushing the trolley and the girl seemed unaware of each other, and Tsuna could only predict one possible outcome.

Ignoring the screens that showed [_Hyper Intuition_ has gained a level] and [Quest accepted: Rescue type], Tsuna quickly ran forth and grasped the girl's wrist, pulling her out of the trolley's path.

"Hahi!" the girl squeaked in surprise. She frowned at Tsuna. "Hey, what was that—" She was interrupted by the sound of the trolley barrelling past behind her. She blinked. "Oh."

Suddenly, the surroundings dimmed and froze, and a loud and obnoxious voice started bellowing in his head. "You have established a bond with _Miura Haru_," it yelled. "Your _Miura Haru_ bond is now level one!"

"Hieee!" Tsuna shrieked in surprise. This was just absurd! He hoped that he could at least turn down the voice's volume.

A few days later, he came to the depressing conclusion that he was unable to do so. He sighed and wondered what was becoming of his life.

* * *

**Fighting to Protect**

"Onii-san!" When Tsuna was going home one day, he heard a familiar voice call out desperately. He didn't even need to think about what to do next.

[Quest accepted: Rescue-combat type]

Following his instincts, Tsuna hurled his bag at one of the nearest boys who were surrounding Kyoko ([Sasagawa Kyoko, Level 10]) and a white haired boy ([Sasagawa Ryohei, Level 13]). Really, this _Hyper Intuition_ thing was pretty handy some times.

Another one of the boys turned to regard Tsuna. He sneered. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded. Tsuna shook in fear, but determinedly held his ground. Without warning, he threw himself at the boy who had been restraining Kyoko, startling him into releasing his grip on the girl.

"Kyoko-chan, run!" Tsuna yelled. Kyoko seemed taken aback for a second, before she nodded and a scary, determined glint entered her eye. Following Tsuna's lead, she, too, ran towards the boy closest to her and somehow managed to tackle him onto the ground.

_No, Kyoko-chan!_ Tsuna wanted to sob. _Not like that!_

"EXTREME!" the white haired boy – Sasagawa-san? Sasagawa-senpai? Ryohei-san? – yelled out and punched another boy in the face. Said boy was staring dumbly at Kyoko who was currently rubbing another boy's face into the ground. Tsuna didn't blame him; he was staring too.

What happened to the nice and sweet Kyoko, the Kyoko who wouldn't even hurt a fly, that he knew?

With Kyoko's newly awakened side, the fight was quickly finished and the boys fled. As they ran away, Tsuna caught sight of their level: 13. Curious, he turned to Sasagawa Ryohei to inquire if those boys were his classmates.

"No, they aren't. Those unextreme boys are my upperclassmen!" he said loudly. Tsuna wondered if he always talked like that.

"Um, then what age are you…?"

"I'm eleven!"

"Eleven?!" But his level was thirteen! Tsuna had soon realised that a person's level corresponded to their age, or so he thought. Why was Sasagawa Ryohei level thirteen when he was merely eleven?

[Quest complete] The orange screen flickered in front of Tsuna but he didn't even flinch, already used to the strange mechanics of this game thing. [Gain 1100xp. Sawada Tsunayoshi has gained a level.] Tsuna blinked in surprise. Huh. That was new. He snuck a glance at Kyoko and her brother's levels, and were somewhat taken aback to see that they, too, had gained a level.

"You are Sawada Tsunayoshi, right? From my class?" Kyoko asked. Tsuna nodded, blushing slight. Kyoko-chan was talking to him! Kyoko smiled. "Thank you for helping us! I'm Sasagawa Kyoko and this is my brother, Ryohei!" Tsuna's blush darkened.

"Um, it was no problem," he muttered. "It was the right thing to do after all. I couldn't let you get hurt, Kyoko-chan."

"Can I call you Tsuna-kun?" she asked. Tsuna nodded and Kyoko's smile seemed to increase in brightness.

"Tsuna!" Tsuna squeaked. He had forgotten about Kyoko's brother. "You're an extreme man! If you need any help, you can call me!"

"S-sasagawa-senpai!"

"Tsuna." Ryohei put his hands on Tsuna shoulders and looked at the small brunet in the eyes with intimidating intensity. "You can call me Ryohei. We are extreme men, after all."

"O-okay, Ryohei-senpai." Tsuna couldn't follow Ryohei's logic, so he just accepted it. It would be better on his psyche in the long run to not question some things.

Everything suddenly darkened and Tsuna sighed, preparing his ears for…

"You have established a bond with _Sasagawa Kyoko_. Your _Sasagawa Kyoko_ bond is now level one!"

"You have established a bond with _Sasagawa Ryohei_. Your _Sasagawa Ryohei_ bond is now level one!"

Yeap. He _knew_ that thing was coming.

When everything turned back to normal – well, as normal as they could get – something orange flickered in front of Tsuna.

[Sasagawa Ryohei has permanently joined your party as an active-combat type. You can now request to fight alongside Sasagawa Ryohei for an indefinite period of time.]

Well, that was new.

* * *

**Theme Music**

Tsuna was late today.

Tsuna was _late_ today.

"Hiieee! I'm late!" Tsuna shrieked as he ran out of the house at top speed. However, he knew that it didn't matter. He was late, and _that person_ would be there to deal out the 'appropriate punishment'. It was just incredibly unfortunate that _that person_ believed the 'appropriate punishment' to _everything_ was to be beaten (hah, bitten) within an inch of one's life.

"Herbivore," _that person_ hissed. "Why are you late?"

"Hiiee! Hibari-san!" Tsuna shrieked in reply. Sure enough, there was a raven haired boy standing at the school gates, holding a pair of steel tonfas in his hands. Above his head were the words [Hibari Kyoya, Level 26] and… wait, what was that noise in the background? Was there a piano playing? But why? And how was the sound so clear?

Hibari got tired of waiting for an answer, and surged forth to attack Tsuna. Tsuna, in turn, let out his trademark shriek and threw himself to the side to avoid getting hit. This made Hibari raise an eyebrow and step forward to hit Tsuna once more. Again, Tsuna managed to evade Hibari's strike. To his ever-growing horror, Tsuna noticed a strange glint enter Hibari's eyes, and it only continued to grow in intensity as Tsuna was able to continuously dodge Hibari's attacks.

[_Hyper Intuition_ has gained a level]

[_Hyper Intuition_ has gained a level]

[_Hyper Intuition_ has gained a level]

[Passive skill: _Unconscious Evasion_ has been created!]

Oh god, this was _so_ not the time! Tsuna couldn't afford to pay attention to all these pesky pop-ups that were in the way! And to make things worse, that ominous piano music was _still_ playing!

Then, Hibari did something terrifying. He _smiled_. It was not a nice smile. In fact it was a horribly terrifying smile that was filled with so much bloodlust that Tsuna could feel it from two metres away.

[Passive skill: _Sense Killing Intent_ has been created!]

_What?_ Tsuna was so caught off guard by the sudden pop-up window that Hibari was able to catch up to him and, well…

"I will bite you to death."

* * *

When Hibari walked away, the piano music went with him. Tsuna had the startling realisation that the music was actually Hibari's theme music. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the absurdity of it all.

"You have established a bond with _Hibari Kyoya_!" the Voice boomed in his head, words echoing all about. "Your _Hibari Kyoya_ bond is now level one!"

Tsuna curled into a ball and started to whimper.

* * *

**Cooking Skill and HP **

Skills, Tsuna soon realised, could come from the most _illogical_ things.

[Passive skill: _Cooking_ has been created!]

[_Cooking_ can help you cook delicious food that can help recover your HP and MP. Raising the _Cooking_ skill by eating and cooking!]

"…" Tsuna stared at the bento in front of him, at a loss for words. He didn't even know where to begin.

"Tsuna-kun, are you alright?" Kyoko asked from beside him. Tsuna quickly snapped out of his daze.

"I'm fine Kyoko-chan," he laughed sheepishly. "I just spaced out for a moment there."

Ever since Tsuna had 'saved' Kyoko, Kyoko had dragged him to eat with her and her friend ([Kurokawa Hana, Level 10]), every day. It was a dream come true for Tsuna.

"You've been staring at the bento for a while now," Hana commented. "Why, are you interested in the food?" She meant it as a joke, but was rather startled when Tsuna started to nod slowly.

"Yeah, I guess I might be interested in cooking."

"Okay then!" Kyoko smiled brightly. Or rather, her smile brightened, considering the fact that she rarely ever stopped smiling. "Why not you and Hana-chan come over to my house this weekend and we can bake together!"

"Really?" This _had_ to be a dream. The sweetest dream ever. Tsuna was going to Kyoko's house! _Kyoko's_ house!

"Of course! See you this Sunday!"

Tsuna was ecstatic.

* * *

Tsuna was walking home from school when he got hit by a car. Now, that in itself was a cause for alarm but what was more disturbing was that Tsuna _sustained_ _minimal injuries._

Tsuna's voice was shaking as he said, "Game menu. Status." He scoured the screen, searching for a reason for his current status when his eyes landed on the 'Buffs' section.

[_Optimum Rest_. Sleeping for 8-9 hours per day allows one to take 40% less damage, and increases _vitality_ and _constitution_ by 10%]

Okay, this was just _bullshit._

* * *

**Author's note**

I wrote this on a whim, so I'm really, really unsure if I should continue. Probably not eh.

Trying out video game mechanics in fiction. This is a result of many different plannings of game stories all converging together. I hope I'm within the guidelines for this.

Tsuna will be the only one with this ability. Tsuna will not be telling anyone about this ability.

#Edit: smoothed over a couple of typos.

#Edit: changed Ryohei to active-combat type


	2. Pre-Chaos, Chapter II

**In case you missed it in the previous chapter (which is perfectly understandable, i some times skip author notes too), here it is. Game of Life is inspired by, and makes use of some of the mechanics in, The Gamer by Sun San-young and Sang-ah. **

There. Now the lawyers won't go after me.

There's quite a lot of Hana in this chapter, actually. Huh, I wonder why.

Also, **thank you** for the response. As such, here is a chapter, which contains all I can wring out of myself at the moment.

* * *

**Flames of the Sky**

Apparently, falling from a great height, from a bridge and into a river, was regarded as a near death experience, even with the _Optimum Sleep_ buff. And _apparently_, the skill _Flames of the Sky_ required a near death experience to unlock.

Just imagine Tsuna's shock when he was suddenly engulfed in orange flames and propelled into the sky with an alarming velocity. And throughout it all, two orange screens remained irritatingly intact.

[_Flames of the Sky_ has gained three levels!]

[Active skill: _Flame Propel_ has been created!]

* * *

**Levels**

Surprisingly, one did not get experience points from merely doing quests alone. Tsuna had found out that he could get experience points from partaking in physical and mental training. Which meant sports and studies.

Tsuna had already gotten two whole levels from evading Hibari's attacks alone. He had also progressed the _Hibari Kyoya_ bond by one level, but he preferred to pretend that such a thing did not exist.

* * *

**ASAP**

Tsuna was weak and scrawny and _dame_. He couldn't do _anything_ right, much less stand up to a bunch of bullies. Honestly, he thought that the situation with Kyoko and Ryohei was just a one-time thing. But here he was, about to do just that.

He was walking home from school – and seriously, most of the things that happened to him happened when he was walking home. Should he just camp in school from now on? – when he saw a bunch of older boys surrounding a smaller, red haired one. Normally, he would have just walked past, not interfering, because who would want to bring attention to themselves? But he had stopped, feet rooted to the ground, and stared at the group. An orange screen was in front of him, words staring at him mockingly.

[Quest available: Rescue-combat type. Would you like to accept the quest?]

To his surprise, his answer was _yes_. He wanted to accept the quest _so badly_, to stop those bullies, but he had no idea what to do. He didn't know where to start! For a moment, he wished that Ryohei was here with him, because _surely_ the older boy would know what to do.

Suddenly, he heard a very loud and very familiar "EXTREME!" from far away. He blinked in surprise when a minute passed and he saw a rather sizeable cloud of dust in the distance, slowing growing bigger. The dust cloud stopped in front of him, and he realised that it was Ryohei. Ryohei had, quite literally, ran so quickly that a dust cloud had formed.

Tsuna really didn't know what to think.

"Ryohei-senpai? Why are you here? I thought you were training at school!"

"I suddenly wanted to see you, to the extreme! So, I ran here!" Ryohei answered, pumping his fist in the air.

"But how did you know where I was?!" Tsuna was genuinely confused. Ryohei looked at him with all the seriousness in the world.

"Because we are extreme men."

"…"

* * *

**Repair Skill**

In the end, they had managed to save the red haired boy from getting physically harmed, although they weren't so lucky with his belongings. Tsuna stared at the ripped pieces of paper on the ground in contemplation before crouching down to pick them up.

"S-Sawada-san!" Irie Shouichi, as the red haired boy had introduced himself, stuttered out. "What are you doing?"

"Hm? Ah, I think I can try piecing them together with tape. The pieces are still rather big, and it's kind of like fixing a jigsaw puzzle, right?" Tsuna smiled at Irie. The red haired boy was staring at Tsuna with a mix of shock and confusion in his eyes.

"You'd… do that for me?" he asked. Tsuna nodded.

"I can try, Irie-senpai. I don't have a reason not to." He smiled again.

[Passive skill: _Cute_ has been created!]

[Active skill: _Dazzling Smile_ has been created!]

Tsuna wanted to sigh and bury his face in his palms. Why did these sort of skills exist?

"You can call me Shouichi, Sawada-san."

"Then please call me Tsuna, Shouichi-senpai." After saying those words, Tsuna prepared himself for…

"You have established a bond with _Irie Shouichi_. Your _Irie Shouichi_ bond is now level one!"

Seriously, why couldn't be just _mute the damned Voice_?

"I don't know what is going on," Ryohei decided to join in the conversation. Loudly. Tsuna mourned the temporary loss of his hearing. "But it sounds good to the extreme!"

* * *

"Alright, so this goes… here…" Tsuna muttered to himself as he tried to match the pieces up.

[Passive skill: _Repair_ has been created!]

"…" Tsuna ignored the screen, batting it away as he continued to piece together the paper.

[_Repair_ has gained a level!]

[_Repair_ has gained a level!]

[_Repair_ has…]

Tsuna found it surprisingly easy to ignore the pop-ups once you got used to them. Suddenly, a notably larger screen popped up in front of him.

[_Repair_ has gained a level! _Repair_ is now Level 10. Active skill _Repair_ has been created!]

"… Well, what do I have to lose?" Tsuna put a hand over the scraps of paper and said, "_Repair_!" and felt rather foolish for doing so. However, that emotion was soon replaced with disbelief when some of the pieces of paper automatically flew towards each other and melded together. When they were done, the paper looked like it had never been ripped apart. Tsuna stared.

* * *

"Oh!" Shouichi stared at the stack of papers Tsuna handed to him. "It's as good as new! How did you…"

"Don't ask," Tsuna replied tiredly. "Just don't ask. Please. Don't ask."

* * *

**Music**

"Shouichi-senpai?" Tsuna asked one day, while the two of them were walking home. Shouichi's home was actually the opposite way from Tsuna's house, but he didn't think Tsuna needed to know that.

"Yes?"

"Do you like to write music?" At Tsuna's question, Shouichi stopped in his tracks.

"U-um…" He could feel the beginnings of a stomach ache coming, and his face turned red. Tsuna continued to talk, unaware of Shouichi's state.

"Because I saw some lyrics and melodies on your notes! I think that's really cool!" Shouichi stared at him, wide-eyed.

"R-really?" Tsuna nodded.

"Yeap. It's also really cool that you can create stuff like robots. I wish I could do that too." Tsuna's tone was a little wistful.

"If you want… I could teach you how to make… stuff," Shouichi hesitantly offered. Tsuna's face brightened.

"Thank you, Shouichi-senpai!" he looked rather excited. Suddenly, an odd expression overcame his face. Shouichi felt a bit worried.

"What's wrong?"

"Um," Tsuna started hesitantly. "In video games, what does it mean when a player obtains a 'flag'?"

Shouichi blinked. "Oh, it's something that causes a variable in a game to change, like a previously inaccessible road suddenly gets cleared up, or you can finally establish a relationship with another character that you previously couldn't."

"I see. Thanks, Shouichi-senpai." Tsuna's expression cleared up a little, but Shouichi could still see that his eyes were still troubled. He wished that he could help Tsuna with whatever problems he was facing.

Meanwhile, Tsuna was wondering what the Voice meant by "_Shouichi Irie_ flag". He and Shouichi were already friends! There was no other relationship beyond that, right?

* * *

**Sewing Skill**

Haru was always wearing or carrying something interesting and new every time Tsuna saw her. It was a while later that Tsuna realised that all the unique items she wore or carried were made with her own two hands. Tsuna found it fascinating. Perhaps there was already something in his subconscious, or perhaps it was something related to the strange gaming system that was now his life, but Tsuna had the urge to learn new, practical skills. First, it was cooking (which was already level twenty thanks to Kyoko and his mother's tutelage) and then repair (which Tsuna still didn't know the actual mechanics of) and crafting (only level six, but his sessions with Shouichi had only just begun). Now, it was sewing.

"And this is how you hide the stitches from the outside eye! There, doesn't it look prettier?" Haru finished explaining. Tsuna was drinking in every word with a single-minded intensity. He accepted the fabric and needle Haru handed him without hesitation and started to put into practice what Haru had shown him. To his surprise, he was actually having fun. He remembered overhearing his male classmates at school scoffing about 'girly hobbies' and whatnot, but they probably had no idea what they were missing out on due to their narrow-mindedness.

[_Sewing_ has gained a level!]

[_Dexterity_ has gained a point!]

And that was another thing about these new skills brought about. Certain daily activities could bring about a raise in certain stats and skills. Like the other day, after sitting through three hours of sewing and stitching, he had learnt the skill _Nimble_. He grudgingly admitted that it made sense, considering the act of stitching.

[_Sewing_ has gained a level! _Sewing_ and _Cooking_ are now at least Level 10! Passive skill: _Yamato Nadeshiko_ has been created!]

"…" Tsuna didn't know if it was a good or bad thing. On one hand, Yamato Nadeshiko was a term used to describe people who were perfect _wife_ material, and he was a male. On the other hand, it was also a term used to describe his mother and his mother was really cool. He settled on feeling slightly offended. Sewing and cooking were not the only skills a Yamato Nadeshiko had. Seriously, if you wanted to use a term, use it properly! Having him be called a Yamato Nadeshiko would be an insult to actual Yamato Nadeshiko everywhere. At least let him learn a few more skills first!

* * *

**Coloured Fire**

Tsuna wasn't stupid, despite what he and everyone else may think. He knew that different people have different coloured words over the top of their head, but they always seemed to fall within a certain frame: the colours of the rainbow. His mother and his colours were orange, Kyoko's one was indigo, Haru's was green, Hana's was red, Hibari's was violet, and Shouichi and Ryohei's were yellow. Obviously they meant something, but Tsuna wasn't really sure what. It was only after he activated his _Flames of the Sky_ skill that a nagging suspicion had entered his mind. If his words were orange just like his flames, it meant that the others had flames of corresponding colours.

Surprisingly, the person he approached to ask about the flames was Kurokawa Hana.

"Hana-chan…" Tsuna began. Hana looked up at him boredly.

"What is it, Tsuna?"

"Um…" he fidgeted. "I have something to show you. Please don't tell anyone!"

Hana raised an eyebrow and straightened up, her curiosity piqued. "Oh? What is it?"

Tsuna looked around at the people in the classroom. "Could we go to a quieter place? With less people…"

Hana was quiet for a while, contemplating the effort it took to move and her curiosity, weighing between the two. Finally, her curiosity won out and she stood up. "Alright, Tsuna. Lead the way."

* * *

"Promise not to tell anyone!" Tsuna insisted. Hana rolled her eyes.

"Alright, alright, I promise. Now, what is it that has you so riled up?"

"Um… I fell off a bridge the other day—"

"You _what_?!" Hana yelled. "Are you alright? No wait, that's a stupid question. You're here, so obviously you're alright." Tsuna was a bit taken aback by her concern. He had thought that Hana only tolerated him because Kyoko and he were friends. It was nice to know that it wasn't really the case.

"Um. Anyway, I didn't die but something happened…" Tsuna held out his hand and concentrated. A small, orange flame appeared in the palm of his hand, causing Hana to stare at it with wide eyes. Tsuna quickly extinguished it and smiled timidly. "So yeah. I was wondering if you could do it too?"

"What the hell, Tsuna. Of course I can't do it!" Hana spluttered. "I'm not some weirdo like you!" Immediately after she said it, she bit her lip and looked away. Tsuna, knowing that she regretted her words, didn't take it to heart.

"I didn't know that I could, and you wouldn't know unless you try it too," Tsuna pressed. "Could you at least try?" Hana hesitated, but took one look at Tsuna's face and caved in. Tsuna resolutely ignored the screen that said [_Cute_ has gained a level] and smiled.

"Sure. But don't be too disappointed if nothing happens," Hana warned.

* * *

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," Hana said in a deadpan. "I would like you to know that before you arrived, I lived a perfectly normal life." Both of their eyes were fixed on the burning red flames in the palm of Hana's hand.

"Well," Tsuna said faintly. "At least we know that you can do it too."

"Hmm." Hana curled her hand into a fist, extinguishing the flame, and stared at it contemplatively. "Do you think Kyoko can do it as well?"

* * *

It turned out that she could and, like Tsuna had predicted, her flames were indigo in colour.

When Tsuna tentatively brought Haru into the group, the other two girls wasted no time in giving her a warm welcome and teaching her how to activate her green flames. Tsuna would always shudder whenever he remembered Haru's laugh when she found out about that she could use her flames to harden and strengthen the things she made. And of course, Kyoko couldn't keep things a secret from her brother for too long and Ryohei was soon aware of the existence of his terrifyingly bright yellow flames.

His experience gain increased at a horrifyingly fast rate after that.

Within two hours of Ryohei finding out, Tsuna soon gave into his guilty conscience and told Shouichi as well. A strange gleam had entered the red haired boy's eyes and he muttered something about 'research' and 'experiments' before vanishing into his house. Tsuna didn't want to know.

* * *

"Tsuna," Hana began. "Why was I the first one you talked to about the flames? I was under the impression that you would have told Kyoko first."

"Well, it's because I felt that you were the best person to go to," Tsuna confessed. "Someone level-headed, and who could think through things before jumping to conclusions. And besides, you're my friend, right?" He smiled.

"…" Hana looked away. "Yeah. I'm your friend."

"You feel closer to _Kurokawa Hana_. Your _Kurokawa Hana_ bond has gained a level!"

For some reason, Tsuna didn't feel that the Voice was as irritating as before.

* * *

Tsuna and his friends were sitting at the abandoned Kokuyo Land, which had quickly become their meeting place after they had discovered their flames, when Ryohei suddenly asked a question.

"Tsuna, I remembered you saying that you thought Hibari would have violet coloured flames! Why don't you tell him about it?"

Hearing that question, Tsuna's mouth dropped open in horror and he started to shake his head profusely. Hana stared at Ryohei as if he were an idiot.

"Do you seriously want that violent monkey to learn _how to control fire_?" Hana asked incredulously. Ryohei seemed confused.

"Why not?" He grinned madly and pumped his fist into the air. "It would be great if he got stronger and joined the boxing club!" Hana sighed in disgust and looked away, defeated by Ryohei's stupidity.

In the end, Tsuna didn't need to tell Hibari.

Hibari had walked in on Tsuna and Kyoko practicing flames one day and tried to beat them up for one reason or another. Tsuna had, for the first time, used his flames offensively against someone else. After the fight, which Tsuna obviously lost, Hibari had demanded to learn how to activate his own flames.

At the end of Hibari's impromptu flame lesson, Tsuna tried not to think of the implications of the _Hibari Kyoya_ bond gaining a level, and the screen that had popped up in front of him.

[Hibari Kyoya has permanently joined your party as an active-combat type. You can now request to fight alongside Hibari Kyoya for an indefinite period of time.]

Tsuna was never going to call for Hibari's help. _Never._

* * *

**To Fight**

One day Kyoko and Haru dragged Hana and Tsuna, respectively, to the Namimori Boxing Club.

"Onii-san!" Kyoko demanded. "Teach us how to fight!"

"Yes, Ryohei-san!" Haru backed up. "We need to learn how to defend ourselves!"

Hana and Tsuna traded similar, despairing looks.

* * *

None of them had been built for boxing, much to Kyoko and Haru's disappointment, and Hana and Tsuna's relief. Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on your point of view – Shouichi had a solution to that problem. During the time that he had been locked up in his house (which was a total of two weeks and three days), Shouichi had excitedly researched about flames and their attributes. When Tsuna asked where Shouichi had gotten the information, Shouichi merely waved off his queries.

Tsuna didn't know if he should be worried or not.

Then Kyoko learnt about illusions and things were never really quite the same.

* * *

The day Shouichi and Haru managed to work together to create weapons for the group was the day Tsuna finally washed his hands off of everything.

"And this is for Tsuna-kun!" Haru said cheerfully as she handed a pair of fingerless cotton gloves to Tsuna. Tsuna examined them and had to admit that the craftsmanship was really good. He put them on and wiggled his fingers. They were surprisingly comfortable as well.

"Trying using your flames!" Shouichi prompted. Tsuna nodded and closed his eyes. Immediately, his hands burst into flames. "So?" Shouichi questioned. "How is it?"

"Um, it's easier to use my flames and… I can feel that they're stronger," Tsuna replied. When he opened his eyes, he realised that Shouichi was taking down notes and going them over with Haru. He wasn't really surprised. Shrugging, he decided that it would be best to practice with the new gloves so he would be better prepared the next time Hibari showed up to demand a flame spar. Not that it really helped, since he always got beaten down one way or another, but he realised that the beatings weren't so painful if he was prepared. And also if he got eight to nine hours of sleep the night before.

After a while of practicing, and a few skills levelling up, Tsuna decided to look around at his friends. Shouichi was still taking notes, observing everyone with a critical eye at the same time. Haru had gone to make use of her shiny new knitting needles, and Tsuna was genuinely apprehensive of the green lightning crackling off it. Either that, or it could have been her laughter; both were rather intimidating.

_[Miura Haru has permanently joined your party as an active-combat/defence type. You can now request to fight alongside Miura Haru for an indefinite period of time.] _

Hana had been given a deck of playing cards which she used as throwing darts. After a while of observing her, and levelling up his _Hyper Intuition_ skill once, he realised that she was charging the cards she threw with her red flames. When those cards hit an object, the red flames seemed to transfer from the card to the object and began to disintegrate it. Tsuna shuddered and quickly moved his gaze to Kyoko.

_[Kurokawa Hana has permanently joined your party as an active-combat type. You can now request to fight alongside Kurokawa Hana for an indefinite period of time.] _

Kyoko was holding a foldable umbrella over her head and twirling it about. It was indigo with bright yellow sunflowers on it. The sight would have been cute, and would've made Tsuna blush, if it weren't for the columns of lava and ice she seemed to be creating around her. And she was still smiling as brightly and care freely as ever. As it was, Tsuna blanched. Why were all the girls in his group so scarily badass?

_[Sasagawa Kyoko has permanently joined your party as a support-combat/defence type. You can now request to fight alongside Sasagawa Kyoko for an indefinite period of time.]_

"Extreme straight!" Ryohei yelled as he punched the wall with his new boxing gloves. When his fist came into contact with the wall, a bright, yellow light shone from his glove and a large hole was blown in the wall. Smoke seemed to rise up from Ryohei's fist. Tsuna's eye twitched. _All_ the people in his group were scarily badass. He sighed and decided to relax. If someone were to tell him a year ago that he would have great friends he would rely on, and actually _have fun_ with, he would have laughed self-deprecatingly. But here he was, sitting with his friends and doing weird things.

Red for Hana, orange for him, yellow for Ryohei and Shouichi, green for Haru, indigo for Kyoko, and violet for Hibari. All that was missing was blue, and then a rainbow would be formed. Tsuna giggled at the thought. Maybe he should invite someone with blue words on top of their head into their group and then name it 'Rainbow'. That would be funny.

Somewhere in the middle of a baseball field, Yamamoto Takeshi sneezed.

"Are you alright, Yamamoto?" one of his teammates asked. He immediately forced a smile onto his face.

"Yes I am! Don't worry about me, just go on home. I'll be staying a little more to practice."

"Alright then!" his teammate answered. "Just take care of yourself! We wouldn't want our ace to get sick right before the big game, would we?"

When his teammates left, Yamamoto Takeshi dropped his smile with a sigh. He stared at his baseball bat tiredly. For some reason, he felt that there was something missing, but what was it?

* * *

**Over Nine Thousand **

_Credit to TheParadoxicalOxymoron for this! _

* * *

Kyoko's birthday was coming up and so Hana and Tsuna were walking about town in search of a present for her. Tsuna looked around as they walked down the streets and randomly pointed to a shop. "How about that one?" he asked Hana. Hana glanced at the shop and raised an eyebrow.

"An antique shop?" she asked dryly. Tsuna smiled sheepishly.

"Well, it won't hurt to take a look. And besides, we might find something unique and interesting there," he explained. Hana smirked.

"Sure. But if we're buying anything in there, you're paying." And with that, she walked towards the shop.

"Hiiee! Hana-_chan_!" Tsuna whined. She only laughed in reply.

* * *

"Welcome," the man at the counter greeted them as they stepped into the shop. Tsuna glanced at him out of habit and froze. His eyes widened.

[Kawahira/Checker Face, Level 9000+]

"Hmm, this place isn't too bad," Hana commented, looking around. She glanced back at Tsuna, about to say something, when she paused and sighed. "It's too bad she's not the type to appreciate such things. Let's just go get her some keychain and be done with it," she continued smoothly, hooking an arm around Tsuna and dragging him out of the shop. When they were at a suitable distance away from it, she released Tsuna and placed her hands on her hips, glaring at him with concern. "Okay, spill," she demanded.

"Th-that guy's… strong…" he stuttered out. Hana frowned.

"He's dangerous?"

"I… don't think so." His _Sense Killing Intent_ skill did not alert him to anything, which meant that the man wasn't a hostile. "But…"

"Be careful, right?" Hana easily finished his sentence. "Don't provoke him or anything. Alright, got it. I'll try my best to keep the others in line if we ever see him again." She didn't question Tsuna's words, having quickly learnt that Tsuna had an uncannily accurate perception of the people around him.

"Yeah… thanks," Tsuna smiled weakly. He was beginning to calm down. "Let's continue searching for Kyoko-chan's present?"

"Of course. And because I had to cover up for you, I'm getting you to pay for it anyway," Hana grinned.

"B-but…! Hana-chan!"

* * *

**Fences and Small Objects**

Tsuna stared at the knee-high fence determinedly. He knew that he was kind of like a game character right now, so there was one thing he had to test out.

"Tsuna-kun, is there something wrong?" Kyoko asked from behind him. He quickly shook his head, not wanting to worry her.

"It's nothing, Kyoko-chan. I just want to see if I can still do something." Taking a deep breath, he lifted up his left foot and stepped over it. So far so good. Balancing on his left foot, he brought his right foot over to the other side.

…

"Yes!" he cheered. "I can still step over stuff!" He was in the midst of a victory dance when he realised that Kyoko was still there. Immediately, he stopped and his face flushed red. Oh _god_, he just had just made a total utter fool of himself in front of his crush! Reluctantly, he turned around to see that Kyoko was smiling her usual smile.

"That's great, Tsuna-kun!" She clapped her hands in delight, genuinely happy for him.

"…" Sometimes, Kyoko really worried Tsuna.

* * *

_Continue? _

_(Yes) (No)_

* * *

**Do not worry, Tsuna's canon guardians will not be replaced. At least, I don't think so.**

Haru would take Lambo's place for some things, though, because seriously, would she allow him (a _child_) to fight when she can? But now that I think of it, Hana makes a pretty decent right hand man. Haha, Gokudera totally has competition over that spot.

ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT EXPLICITLY MENTIONED Tsuna's bond levels with his friends are increasing. It's around five/six right now. Yes, that includes Hibari. Also, the 'Flag' Tsuna got when talking to Shouichi was Shouichi's romance flag lol.

It is mentioned in the wiki that **Kyoko's flame is mist flame**. Apparently, it was on the khr card game, but not confirmed by Amano Akira-sensei. (Personally I thought she was Rain) Haru's flame is lightning in one of the DS games. Hana's flame is something I made up on my own. (Was gonna go with cloud, but hey why not storm)

_**Important**_ If I ever upload anymore chapters, it won't be this long or this fast. I'll write whenever I have the motivation to, because I seriously don't know where I'm going with this. Plot? What plot? And as you can see, what timeline? ahahahahahahaha sobs.

Also, list of mentioned skills + some outtakes on my tumblr, if anyone is interested


	3. Pre-Chaos, Chapter III

**Warning/note**: I have messed up the timeline because I want certain things to happen. Also, since this is happy crack, Tsuna shall _REFORM EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING_

* * *

**Side Quest**

On the way to Kokuyo Land, a piece of paper caught Tsuna's eye. It was a flyer for an invention contest, in which the participants had to send in blueprints of their invention and the list of materials needed to make it. It seemed a little sketchy, but it also didn't really set off any alarms in Tsuna's head (nor did it set off any skills) so Tsuna picked it up. Immediately, an orange screen flashed in front of his face.

[Quest available: Creation type. Would you like to accept the quest?]

Tsuna ignored the screen for the moment. He'll accept the quest only if Shouichi and Haru wished to take part in the contest with him. Group participation was allowed, after all.

* * *

**Idea**

They were going to make flying boots. _Flying boots_. Haru's first suggestion was to have the boots be powered by an individual's flames, but it was turned down on the basis that not everyone knew how to use their flames. Therefore, Shouichi suggested a hover mechanism to go with the boots. Haru had excitedly agreed and the two started discussing weird science stuff that Tsuna had absolutely no way of understanding. However, since Haru looked genuinely disappointed at not being able to design flame boots, Tsuna decided to speak up.

"Well, we can do two similar prototypes, right? We can focus on the hover boots for the contest, but do the flame boots as a side project. We have the time, don't we?" he suggested. Both Shouichi's and Haru's eyes sparkled at that.

"Yes! That sounds fun!" Haru exclaimed. "And we can get the others to work on the flame boots with us!"

[Quest accepted: Creation type]

And that was the start of a wonderful chain of side quests, though Tsuna didn't know it.

* * *

**Fun**

Tsuna was worried. He didn't really pay much attention to his surroundings in the past, but now that he had levelled his _Hyper Intuition_ skill to extreme levels, it was a bit hard for his to stay ignorant to his surroundings. Recently, he's been very aware of his classmate, Yamamoto Takeshi, and the almost volatile atmosphere around him. It seemed that literally no one else had noticed it, considering that Yamamoto had this tendency to keep people at arm's length without them realising it. Hell, did Yamamoto even know that what he was doing?

"Tsuna-kun?" Kyoko's voice jerked him out of his contemplation. He looked back at her.

"Ah, sorry," he blushed sheepishly. "I wasn't really paying attention." Kyoko didn't seem too put-out, though. If anything, she seemed rather amused.

"Tsuna-kun keeps looking at Yamamoto-san. Do you want to talk to him?" she asked. Tsuna didn't answer, fidgeting and dropping his gaze to his food. He heard Hana sigh.

"Seriously, Tsuna. I can tell that you're just _dying_ to say something to him. Go and do it," she said flatly. With all the encouragements (pushiness) from his friends, Tsuna managed to gather up the courage to approach Yamamoto. He stood in front of the other boy's desk, fidgeting. Yamamoto looked up and gave him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Ah, it's Tsuna! Do you need something?" Yamamoto asked.

"Um. Uh." Tsuna didn't meet his eyes. "I know it's kind of weird for me to suddenly talk to you about this but. You seem to be wearing yourself thin? Maybe? Pushing yourself too hard? You look really stressed… and I've seen you staying back after school a lot and even skip lunch to practice baseball so." He took a deep breath. "I know it's not in my place, but I'm kind of worried about you." Tsuna chanced a glance up at Yamamoto just in time to see a flicker of vulnerability flash across his face before it was covered up with a smiling mask. One of Yamamoto's baseball teammates butted into the conversation.

"Just go away, Dame-Tsuna," he sneered. "You don't even know anything about baseball. And Yamamoto _needs_ to spend time practicing because he's the best player and our ace." Tsuna wrinkled his nose.

"Yes, _everyone_ is supposed to practice, but not at the price of your personal health! And… aren't you supposed to practice with your teammates? No one really stays back with Yamamoto-san for too long…"

"…" Yamamoto looked at Tsuna. "I'm fine, thanks for your concern," he said in a tone that signified he wanted to end the conversation. Tsuna hesitated for a while, before he gave in.

"If you're sure. See you, Yamamoto-san."

* * *

Ever since that incident, Takeshi had started to be more aware of Tsuna. Before, Takeshi knew Tsuna as a classmate of him, someone whom all his teammates called 'Dame-Tsuna'. He was the only person to score lower than him on tests, too. However, apart from those small pieces of information, Takeshi didn't know anything else. He vaguely remembered that Tsuna didn't really have any friends, and tended to eat alone during lunch. It seemed that it wasn't the case anymore. Nowadays, he spent lunchtime with Kyoko and Kurokawa, discussing things and laughing.

They looked like they were having fun.

There was another thing about Tsuna that Takeshi had noticed. Although Tsuna had never approached him again, he could still see the brunet shoot concerned glances at him whenever he thought Takeshi wasn't looking. There was also the day that Takeshi had overexerted himself and ended up with a slight muscle ache. He had thought that he hid his condition rather well, even from his father, but had found an effective brand of muscle balm in his locker the next day. Although there was no note, Takeshi knew who it was from.

He wondered why Tsuna had suddenly decided to take notice of him. Why Tsuna cared. Tsuna wasn't even his teammate; he wouldn't be affected if Takeshi didn't perform well in baseball.

* * *

Tsuna had been giving Takeshi increasingly worried looks today. It appeared that Tsuna had realised that Takeshi felt abnormally tired. He knew he shouldn't have pushed himself that much yesterday, but his teammates had been concerned about his declining performance in baseball. Takeshi couldn't let them down, so he had stayed back to practice. He probably shouldn't have, really. Briefly, he thought about staying back today as well to practice but quickly discarded the idea when both his body and mind rejected it. Besides, he probably couldn't do much since he was in such a daze.

Lethargically, he crossed the road. Without looking both ways for traffic.

A horn jerked him out of the exhausted haze he was in and he looked up. A large truck was glaring its horn loudly, and he was in its direct path. The truck tried to slow down, but Takeshi already knew that it was too late. He stood, feet rooted to the ground, and mind absolutely blank.

"Yamamoto-san!" a familiar voice shrieked, and he was pushed forcefully to the pavement on the other side of the road. Quickly turning back, his mouth dropped open in horror as he saw the truck _literally_ slam into Tsuna. And then he couldn't see Tsuna anymore, the small body hidden behind the truck as it drove past. The vehicle didn't stop, and somewhere in Takeshi's mind, he numbly registered that it was a hit-and-run.

Once the truck drove by, the road was clear and Takeshi quickly ran over to Tsuna, dragging the boy to the pavement. As he dragged Tsuna, he thought he heard Tsuna mumble something about "optimum sleep" and "stats from lunch".

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Takeshi wanted to yell, but the words came out somewhat choked. Tsuna blinked and shook his head.

"My body kind of moved by itself. But enough about me, are _you_ okay? You look kind of pale." Takeshi couldn't believe him.

"You just got hit by a _truck_!" Takeshi was somewhat hysterical. Why didn't Tsuna seem to grasp what had happened to him?

Tsuna looked away. "Um, it just clipped me," he said quickly. "I knew I wouldn't get too hurt, so I did that. But seriously, you really don't look so good. Did you overwork yourself?" Tsuna's brown eyes were back on Takeshi, and they were filled with concern. He was _still_ worrying about Takeshi despite getting _hit_ by a freaking _car_. Takeshi was dumbfounded. Slowly, he began to laugh, which only made Tsuna even more worried.

"I've really lost to you, Tsuna," Takeshi admitted between bouts of semi-hysterical laughter. He felt Tsuna stiffen up a little and then rub his ears.

"Yamamoto-san? I think you need to rest."

The next day, Takeshi joined Tsuna, Kyoko, and Kurokawa from lunch. Apart from Kurokawa's "Great, _another_ monkey", there weren't any objections.

Two weeks later, Tsuna helped Takeshi create beautiful, calming blue fire.

* * *

Takeshi liked hanging out with Tsuna's group. There weren't any pressurising expectations placed on him, and they didn't think he should be anything but himself. Takeshi especially liked Tsuna, who always seemed to accept everything as they came with a strange sort of exasperation.

It was at that moment, as Takeshi sat on a broken pillar and watched the colourful group of people create coloured fire, that he finally realised that they were truly his friends, and that he genuinely enjoyed hanging out with them. As he had that thought, he noticed that Tsuna suddenly hunch over and groan, covering his ears with his hands. A simple, but real, smile settled on Takeshi's face.

He was having fun.

* * *

**Item Inventory**

Namimori was a relatively small town, and hence it was rather hard to get certain items. Especially if those items were strange, almost obscure, items needed to create hover boots. In order to get those parts, Tsuna had to take the train to another city. He knew that he probably could have gotten it delivered, but the parts would have taken at least a week to reach Namimori and taking into account the extra cost, it didn't seem worth it. Besides, his mother didn't object to him going out as long as he got home in time for dinner.

It was three in the afternoon when Tsuna finished purchasing all the items on his list. And he was lost, which was unfortunate. There didn't seem to be anyone for miles, and neither were there many houses. He glanced at his watch to check the time when he noticed a very familiar blond visage. Tsuna stiffened and immediately spun around just in time to see a tall man with blond hair enter the only house in the immediate area. Tsuna narrowed his eyes and angrily tugged on his leather gloves. There was no mistake as to who that person way. He stomped toward the house and flung open the door forcefully, basically ripping it off his hinges.

"Old man!" he growled out. "You better have a—" He stopped dead when he saw his father holding a gun and pointing it at a terrified red haired man. Behind the man was a woman with long, blond hair, a boy his age with similar messy red hair, and younger girl with the same red hair and a cherry clip in it. A hysterical part of his mind remarked that the cherry clip clashed horribly with her hair, while the other, larger, part of his mind was telling him to _look at his father._

"D-dad?" he stuttered out. The plastic bag he held fell out of his hands and landed on the ground with a clatter. This managed to startle him out of his blue-screen-of-death moment and realise that his _Sense Killing Intent_ and _Hyper Intuition_ skills were frantically trying to tell him that the man who looked like his dad was, in fact, _not_ his dad. Tsuna glanced up at the spot above the man's head in confirmation and saw [Daemon Spade, Level 520] in indigo letters.

"You're not my dad, who the hell are you, what the hell." The words tumbled out of his mouth but the man wearing his father's face – _illusion_, his _Hyper Intuition_ told him, _just like Kyoko's_ – turned away, disregarding his presence, and brought his attention back to the gun and the red haired man he was very obviously about to shoot. Tsuna's eyes narrowed and he immediately vanished, only to reappear back in front of the man in a burst of orange flames. He felt a sense of satisfaction swell up within him at the slight widening of the illusionist's eyes as Tsuna bats the gun out of his hand and kicks him to the wall. Without missing a beat, Tsuna grabbed the man by the arm and _flew _out of the door and up into the sky.

"Drop the illusion," Tsuna demanded. The illusionist stared at Tsuna for a moment before letting out a creepy laugh.

"Nufufu. So this is Giotto's descendant," he said as the appearance of Tsuna's father melted away to reveal a man with hair that was an alarming shade of blue. Tsuna wondered what kind of person had that sort of laugh, and _how_ did the guy's hair turn that blue before he decided to ignore it. He had been practicing the suspension of his disbelief ever since he woke up with this strange gamer ability, and he wasn't going to stop now.

"… I have no idea what you're talking about," Tsuna told him. "But whatever, we'll continue this conversation later because I need to get home before curfew. Game menu, items." Immediately, as he predicted, everything went dull. Including the strange blue haired illusionist in his hands, which was rather fortunate. Tsuna looked in front of him at the orange screen that showed many empty squares. He had never utilised this function of the weird ability before, but there was always a first time for everything. He steeled himself, taking a deep breath and…

Shoved the blue haired illusionist into the screen.

To his delight, the blue haired illusionist disappeared into it, and a chibi version of him appeared in the top left box. Thank god it worked. Now he had to get back to the house and take back his plastic bag. It was going to be awkward.

* * *

"Thank you _so_ much!" After giving the red haired man a brief rundown of the situation – "I thought he was my dad, but apparently he wasn't. So I shoved him somewhere he can't really get out of." – and carefully avoiding mentions of inventories and hammer space, the red haired man became very grateful to the strange brown haired kid who saved his family's life. Tsuna, quite quickly, found out that the man was Kozarto Makoto, a fine arts dealer who was very happy to offer any sort of service to Tsuna. Which Tsuna graciously declined.

"You need to fix your house and stuff! And I'm really sorry about the door…" Tsuna looked around for an escape route. They had already managed to get the fact that he lived in Namimori out of him, and he didn't really want to reveal anymore. What if they told other people about his flames?

"Oh it's fine. We can fix it. You saved our lives! At least let us treat you to dinner!"

"Ah, I promised my mum I'd be home for dinner, so I can't. I'm really sorry."

"But at least let us do something for you!"

"Uh… I'm lost so could you direct me to the train station please?" Tsuna asked, desperate to get home. If he got home before curfew, his mother would…

"Of course!" Kozarto Makoto looked happy to be able to do something for his saviour. "Enma, why don't you show Tsuna-san here to the train station?" The red haired boy's widened and looked at Tsuna. Tsuna tried to smile back at him, which only made him look away.

"'Alright, father," the boy muttered and trudged forward. Tsuna felt extremely awkward about the entire situation. Once they were a distance away from the house, Tsuna spoke.

"Hey… Enma-san? You don't have to bring me to the train station if you don't want to. You just have to point out the direction and I'll be really grateful."

"No!" Enma looked a bit startled from his outburst. "I mean," he continued in a softer tone. "I think you're really cool, Tsuna-san, but I'm…" Tsuna blinked and looked at Enma incredulously.

"Me? Cool? People at school call me Dame-Tsuna, and I can't do many things right! I only… seem to be cool when I have something to protect," Tsuna admitted, looking away. "But really, I'm not cool. My friends are a lot stronger and better than me."

"B-but, the fire?"

Tsuna glanced at the red-brown words on top of Enma's head. It was a new colour, one he had never seen before. "I have full confidence that Enma-san can produce beautiful flames," he said firmly, watching Enma's red eyes widened and fill with surprise. "Ah, Enma-san has very pretty eyes," Tsuna commented thoughtlessly, and Enma's face turned red.

"You have established a bond with _Kozarto Enma_. Your _Kozarto Enma_ bond is now level one! You have received the _Kozarto Enma_ flag!"

There it was again, the strange 'flag' thing. Whatever, he'll probably find out more about it later.

"D-do you really think so?" Enma whispered. Tsuna nodded and smiled. He wondered what sort of flames Enma would have.

([_Cute_ has gained a level!]

[_Dazzling Smile_ has gained a level!])

"I do, Enma-san." Tsuna walked into a pole and keened in pain, prompting Enma to giggle. There were already at the train station.

"It… was nice meeting you, Tsuna-san," Enma said. "Do you… think we can meet again?"

"…" Tsuna didn't know how to answer that. "If fate decrees it, we will," he decided to say, quoting a line out of the novels Haru liked to read.

Enma smiled for the first time that night. "Alright. I _will_ see you again, Tsuna-san."

What both of them didn't know that the next time they meet, Enma would be a Mafia boss.

* * *

**Purification **

On one hand, he wanted to leave Daemon Spade in his inventory forever. On the other hand, that might bring about side effects that he didn't really want or need. After talking to Daemon a few times, he had gone to his friends for help. They gave several degrees of varying reactions.

Shouichi, Hana and Haru had wanted to exorcise him, which he tried. It didn't work. Ryohei wanted to fight with him, but Tsuna refused, seeing as Daemon's level was _five hundred and twenty_. Kyoko and Takeshi had then suggested making friends with him, which was a laughable idea.

Tsuna wondered what it said about him since he was actually going to try it out.

Finishing up the ghost-capturing strange symbol Shouichi had found for him, Tsuna took Daemon out of his inventory and placed him in the middle of the symbol. Daemon looked a little annoyed, but mostly amused.

"Good evening, Primo Jr.," he greeted. "Here to talk again?"

"My name is Tsuna," Tsuna answered reflexively. "And no, actually. I want to hear you talk. Why… did you become a ghost?" Daemon looked even more amused now and Tsuna steeled himself for another long speech on how being nice was a weakness and that he should rule over his friends with an iron fist or something. To his surprise, Daemon started to tell a story. A story about a young noble boy who fell in love with a beautiful noble girl and joined a vigilante group. He talked about how the vigilante group decided against getting stronger, and how it came at the cost of the noble girl's life. At the end of the tale, Tsuna was fighting back tears.

"Don't you see now, Primo Jr.? Strength is needed to survive in this world, and even the dying noble girl knew that." Tsuna wiped at his eyes.

"But… it didn't seem that way to me, Daemon-san," Tsuna said. Daemon narrowed his eyes, but waited for Tsuna to continue speaking. "She sounded like she joined the vigilante group to help protect the weak and defenceless. If… the noble boy turned the vigilante group into a strong but ruthless empire, didn't he turn the group into what they had been protecting people from?" When Daemon didn't reply, Tsuna looked at him and saw that he seemed a little shell-shocked and somewhat pale. Well, paler than he already way.

"…Daemon-san?"

"I… need to go," Daemon said quietly, his voice shaking. And then he just disappeared, leaving Tsuna in an empty room to stare at the symbol that failed in restraining Daemon.

"Okay…?"

* * *

Sometime in the middle of the night, when Tsuna was sleeping, a screen popped up in front of him.

[Active Skill: _Reform Evil_ has been created!]

* * *

Daemon had been gone for a week, to Tsuna's apprehension. He should have been glad that Daemon was gone, but he was just worried. Worried about what Daemon might be doing, and hoping that he hadn't gone to finish what he started with the Kozarto family. And, against his rationality, he was worried _for_ Daemon, as Daemon didn't seem too good before he vanished. He was contemplating whether or not he should visit Enma – to see if they were still alive – when he entered him room and promptly dropped his bag on the floor. Daemon was standing in the middle of it and staring at Tsuna. There was something off about him, though. He seemed almost… dead. Deader than he already was, which Tsuna didn't believe was actually possible.

"Hello, Daemon-san. Welcome back." He decided to bite and bullet and break the ice. If anything went wrong, he could always shove Daemon into his inventory again.

"Primo Jr.," Daemon said dully in acknowledgement. Tsuna fidgeted in the awkward re-formed silence, desperately trying to think of a way to cheer Daemon up. He had a feeling that the noble boy in the story was actually Daemon himself, and that Daemon had mistaken his lover's last wish, twisting that vigilante group into something power hungry and horrible. But that was just a theory.

"Um, I think that the noble girl still loves the noble boy, even after what he's done. That's because he did everything out of love for the noble girl, and yo—his intentions was still…" Tsuna trailed off, unable to complete his sentence. His intentions were still good? No way. His intentions were still pure? Could that word even be used to describe Daemon? Thankfully, he didn't need to finish his sentence for Daemon to understand him. The illusionist looked at Tsuna in the eye and smiled very, very faintly.

"Thank you, Tsunayoshi." Tsuna blinked in surprise. It was the first time Daemon had used his name.

"You have established a bond with _Daemon Spade_. Your _Daemon Spade_ bond is now level one!"

A bond with a ghost. Was that even possible?

* * *

Daemon sat in Tsunayoshi's chair. It was currently two in the morning, and Tsunayoshi was fast asleep. Daemon couldn't help but remark on his similarities with Giotto – that same compassion, that same hair, that same way he could calm Daemon down… It made Daemon yearn for simpler times, back when Vongola was still small, and the bonds between them were still strong. When Elena was still alive.

Elena…

Daemon looked at Tsunayoshi, and made a vow. "I swear to you, Elena, I will try my best to make up for my wrongs, and I will start by helping this boy reform Vongola back into the vigilante group you had once loved."

* * *

**Name**

Daemon had somehow settled into their group. Everyone was rather twitchy around him at first, but they soon got used to his ghostly presence, and how he would sometimes disappear for days on end. Tsuna operated on a 'don't ask don't tell' basis, and tried not to think about what Daemon did when he was gone. Only good things, he hoped. Tsuna wondered how he was going to explain this whole situation to Enma. 'He used to be bad but now he's good,' didn't quite cut it.

"Primo Jr., do you have a name for your group?" Daemon asked. Everyone paused in their activities for a while as they went through their memories. Now that they thought of it, they _didn't_ have a name. Daemon seemed to have realised that as well, and chuckled. "Nufufu, how about the name 'Hamagure'?" he suggested.

"Clam?" Ryohei was the first to question it. "Why clam?"

"Nufufufu, because…" Daemon took a split second to bullshit out an answer. "Because, like clams, you protect the precious thing within you: the bonds you have with one another." It would be entertaining if they actually took up the name.

Everybody seemed to discuss among one another before they came to a conclusion.

"Alright," Tsuna shrugged. "I don't see why not. Let's just go with that name until we find a better one."

* * *

They never did change the name.

* * *

**Prototype testing**

They had finished developing prototypes of the two types of boots. It was time to test them out, and the Sasagawa siblings had volunteered to be the test subjects. After a heated scissors-paper-stone match, Kyoko took the hover boots and Ryohei took the flame boots. To Tsuna's surprise – or maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised, Shouichi and Haru had worked on these things after all – the prototypes worked without much problems. Of course, they still needed to calibrate a few things here and there, and make it much more user-friendly, but they still worked.

"Hahi, I wonder what would happen if you kick someone while the flames boots are activated," Haru mused. Tsuna stared at her in alarm and took two steps away.

Hana looked at the flame boots contemplatively. "Hey Haru, Shouichi. Do you think that you could design the boots in a way that make it less bulky and conspicuous? And how about increasing their combat capabilities?"

When Haru started muttering about loafers and spikes, Tsuna decided that he should go back to working on the hover boots and completely ignore anything about flames.

* * *

_Continue? _

_(Yes) (No) _

* * *

_Load Add-on Content? _

_[(Yes)] (No) _

_Loading Outtake005…_

* * *

"Arrghhh! It's so annoying how Mukuro keeps wanting to possess my body!" Tsuna was frustrated. Daemon, on the other hand, was rather amused.

"Nufufu, but you _do_ realise that you can't possess bodies if they are incompatible with you. That's why I didn't possess Sasagawa Kyoko when I first met her, after all."

Tsuna stared at Mukuro blankly. "… I'm going to ignore that last bit. But if he can't possess my body, why is he still sticking around?"

Daemon smirked. "Perhaps he wishes to possess your body in… another sense," he purred. Tsuna's blank stare gained a hint of confusion.

"But what other way is there?"

"…"

* * *

Daemon spoke with utmost seriousness. "Sawada Tsunayoshi is pure and precious, and must be protected at all costs."

Kyoko smirked. "Glad you see it that way." The door to the 'Tsuna Protection Squad' opens to reveal Haru and Nana having tea and discussing battle plans. "It's good to have you on the team, Daemon-san."

* * *

**Author notes**

Lol. The characters are ooc aren't they? What am I going to do now…

Should I do more of Tsuna's younger self or should I just go to daily life already?

Flame boots. Aren't I innovative? (sarcasm)

More outtakes can be found on the khrgamer tag on my tumblr. Shameless self-promotion.

(Here I am, doing this when I'm supposed to be writing research papers god help me)

**Reviews**

_Toolazytologin_ Haha thanks. Hmm, it would follow canon for some things, aka stuff Tsuna currently has no control over. Like the ring battles. (the outcomes would probably be different though). But I'm not too fond of going through Future arc.

_SRB_ I've already put in 'items' in the menu, actually! I was going to do some things about it in the first chapter, but I lost the idea. I hope that the inventory usage in this chapter makes up for it.


	4. Pre-Chaos, Chapter IV

**Author's note**: Lol, what's a timeline again

**Warning**: Badly written fight scene.

* * *

Levels as of the hover boots prize presentation

[Sawada Tsunayoshi, Level 16]  
[Sasagawa Ryohei, Level 26]  
[Sasagawa Kyoko, Level 19]  
[Kurokawa Hana, Level 17]  
[Miura Haru, Level 19]  
[Irie Shouichi, Level 23]  
[Yamamoto Takeshi, Level 17]  
[Hibari Kyoya, Level 50]

* * *

**Submission**

Finally, _finally_, they had completed the development of the hover boots. Tsuna was pretty confident that they would be able to secure one of the top ten spots with such an invention. He was sure that they could be in the top three, if they sent in their prototype, but the three of them had decided to keep the prototypes for themselves. The hover boots were _theirs_, _they_ made it. Hence, they should keep it. Perhaps it was a bit selfish of them, considering that they already had the flame boots and preferred it to the hover boots, but it just didn't feel fair if they just gave their prototypes away like that.

"Hahi!" Haru said excitedly. "I hope we get first place!" Shouichi adjusted his glasses.

"This is a worldwide competition, so it's not very likely we'd win," he told her, making her pout.

"Ah~" She crossed her arms and frowned at Shouichi. "Shouichi-san needs to have more confidence! Our work will surely dominate the competition, right Tsuna?" Tsuna fidgeted, put in a spot.

"Well, Shouichi-senpai has a point," he said, making Haru's face fall. He quickly finished his sentence, not wanting to see his friend upset. "But I wouldn't be surprised if we make it into the top ten. Haru-chan and Shouichi-senpai worked on it, after all." His words made both Haru and Shouichi blush.

"Tsuna-kun worked on it too!" Haru quickly recovered. "So we'd definitely get first place!" The three of them then started to laugh, and Tsuna wished that things could stay this way forever.

* * *

**What's in a Name**

Tsuna got hit by a car again. He hoped that it wouldn't happen a third time.

"A-are you alright?" a soft voice asked desperately. Tsuna winced as he sat up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied the girl at his side. "How about you and the cat?" The girl looked down at the orange tabby in her lap and nodded meekly.

"Yeah, we're fine," she whispered. "Thanks for saving us."

"It's no problem," Tsuna replied automatically.

Tsuna had been walking to Kokuyo Land when he saw that there was a cat on the road that was about to be run over. Before he could even move, a young girl with purple hair had already ran out to the middle of the road to scoop up the cat. However, as the car came closer and closer, she didn't move away, rooted to the ground with fear. Inwardly lamenting about the similarity of situations, Tsuna had run out to the road as well and shoved the girl out of the way. After which, he got hit by the car.

Tsuna picked himself up, prompting the girl to do the same. The cat jumped out of her lap and ran off somewhere. Tsuna inwardly rolled his eyes. What an ungrateful creature. He glanced back at the girl, eyes going to the space above top of her head out of habit.

[Yoinara Nagi, Level 9]

Then he noticed the little scrapes and bruises on the girl's hands. His eyes widened. "Ah, you're hurt!" he exclaimed. The girl looked at her hands and her eyes widened as well, as if she didn't notice her injuries until Tsuna pointed it out to her. "You should go home and get them disinfected," Tsuna told her. Something dark flashed through her eyes before she looked away and Tsuna didn't need his _Hyper Intuition_ skill to tell him that the topic was a landmine.

"If you want, you could come with me and I can disinfect them for you. It's the least I can do since I was the one to cause your injury." The girl's head shot up at that, and she opened her mouth to say something but Tsuna didn't give her the chance. He knew, from experience, that infected wounds were really horrible and painful, and he wouldn't wish it on anyone. "C'mon. I'm going to meet my friends but I'm sure they won't mind if I bring someone along."

* * *

As Tsuna expected, they didn't mind. In fact, the girls were ecstatic to have another female in their midst. They basically snatched Nagi out of Tsuna's hands when the two arrived at Kokuyo Land, leaving Tsuna at the entrance, at a loss as to what to do next. He soon recovered and trailed after the girls, grabbing the first aid kit along the way.

* * *

"See you soon, Nagi-chan!" Haru waved enthusiastically as the group left Kokuyo Land. Nagi didn't answer, glancing at Tsuna in question. Tsuna smiled at her.

"You're welcome here anytime you want, Nagi-san," he told her. "You're our friend now; part of our group." He paused. "Well, only if you want to be," he quickly followed up, not wanting to seem like he was pressuring the girl into doing anything. She probably had enough of that from her home situation. "Because if you don't—"

"N-no! I mean yes!" Nagi yelled. She quickly collected herself and blushed. "I-I mean I'd like to be part of your group, Tsuna-san."

"Oh, great!" Tsuna smiled again, extending his hand towards her. "Welcome to Hamagure, Nagi-san!"

For the first time since Tsuna had seen her, Nagi let out a bright, beautiful smile.

"You have established a bond with _Dokuro Chrome/Yoinara Nagi_! Your _Dokuro Chrome/Yoinara Nagi_ bond is now level one!"

_Who the hell is Dokuro Chrome_.

* * *

**Warm Welcome to Italy**

"Tsu-kun!" Nana called from downstairs. "There's a letter for you!" A minute later, she saw her son walk into the room and handed him the letter.

"Thanks mum." Tsuna opened the letter and read it. His eyes widened and a large grin spread across his face. "Mum! Do you remember the invention contest Shouichi-senpai, Haru-chan and I took part in?" he asked excitedly. Nana nodded and Tsuna passed the letter to her. She read it and started to smile as well.

"Second place?" she gasped. "That's wonderful!"

"I know right! We even get to go to Italy for the prize presentation, for free!" Tsuna was all but vibrating with delight. "All expenses paid, including lodging and food fees!" He looked through the envelope and paused. "Ah," he said with disappointment in his tone. "There are only three tickets…" He frowned. What about parent supervision? Why didn't these people take that into account? Oh well, he didn't mind staying back to let someone else go in his place.

"It's alright, Tsu-kun." Tsuna blinked at looked at his mother. She was smiling, but there was a tinge of… something colouring her smile. "I know that the adults trust that the three of you can take care of yourselves. But…" She bit her lip. "You'll come back, right? Soon."

Looking at how vulnerable his mother seemed, he couldn't help but curse his father. "Yes, I promise I'll be back by the end of the week," he said firmly. "I won't leave you." At his words, the insecurity in his mother's face faded away and she pushed him towards the door.

"Alright, Tsu-kun! Let's go share the great news with your friends!"

* * *

Shouichi, Haru, and Tsuna were in Florence, Italy two days later. It was a rather uncomfortable experience for the three of them, taking into account all the language barriers and culture shocks, but they had managed to make out of the airport without too many difficulties. Apparently, the hotel they were staying in was a rather expensive hotel funded by the famous and rich Vongola Corporation, and it was located somewhere in the hills that overlooked Florence. Thank god a guide was there to pick them up from the airport, or they would probably never make it to the hotel. Or out of the airport, for that matter.

"Hahi!" Haru gasped once they entered the car. "What about our suitcases?" The guide, who introduced himself as Adriano, glanced back at her from the driver's seat.

"The Vongola staff will deliver them to the hotel rooms for you." There was a pause before the guide started to speak again. "So, you are the ones who worked on the… hover boots?" he asked in slightly accented Japanese. There was a moment of awkward silence as the three of them looked at one another, willing each other to speak.

"Yes," Tsuna was the one who lost the staring competition. "We had fun designing it."

"I see." The guide gave the three of them a contemplative look before focusing back on the road. Tsuna shifted closer to his friends, a bit suspicious of the guide. His _Sense Danger_ skill (a skill that was created when _Sense Killing Intent_ had reached level twenty) was alerting him to something. Too bad the skill was only at level one, and hence Tsuna had no idea what it was trying to tell him. Another reason to be suspicious would be the fact that the guide introduced himself as Adriano, but the words floating above his said [Eliseo Benedetti, Level 36] in clear, red letters. Now, how could he warn Haru and Shouichi without alerting the 'guide'?

"Where are you taking us?" Shouichi spoke up suddenly. It was then that Tsuna noticed they were nowhere near the hills of Florence, and were approaching the woods instead. The window between the driver's seat and the backseats was going up, making the three children panic and try to exit the car. Suddenly, the back of the car was filled with a sickly sweet scent, and when Tsuna breathed, the air was ice cold and just _wrong_. His limbs became heavy and numb, and his vision began to blur. Immediately, he held his breath and looked over at Haru and Shouichi.

"Try not to breathe!" he yelled. They nodded trying their best to fight against the effects of the gas, but their movements became more and more lethargic.

[Passive skill: _Resist Sleep_ has been created!]

[Passive skill: _Resist Poison_ has been created!]

Tsuna narrowed his eyes. He knew it, the strange sweet smelling gas was the reason for the sleeping condition.

When he saw that his friends had fallen into unconsciousness, he wanted to scream. What was he going to do now?

The door to the car opened and he saw a man wearing a black suit. The man took one look at him and frowned. "_We need a stronger knockout agent."_ The man said something in Italian, and Tsuna knew that it did not contain any good news for him. He tried to shuffle further away from the man while making sure to keep himself between the open door and his friends.

"D-don't touch them!" Tsuna yelled. Of course, they disregarded his words. Eliseo entered Tsuna's line of vision, holding a cloth in his hands. Tsuna gritted his teeth and glared at him, shifting backwards again. When Eliseo pulled Tsuna out of the car, Tsuna struggled to get out of his grasp. Of course, it didn't work, and Eliseo firmly held the cloth to Tsuna's face, forcing him to inhale whatever gas the cloth was emitting. He tried to hold his breath and twisted, eyes fixed on the men that were carelessly dragging Haru and Shouichi out of the car. However, Tsuna was soon overpowered and everything went black.

* * *

Tsuna awoke in a dingy room with his limbs bound. His head was pounding, his vision poor, and his sense of hearing muffled. Whatever thing that those men had used on him, it had really horrible side effects. Beside him, he realised that Shouichi and Haru were already awake. Slowly, he sat up and saw that his friends were staring in front of them with stone cold faces. Hesitantly, Tsuna looked forward as well to see another man in a suit. This man had orange hair and icy grey eyes. Eyes that were filled with a dangerous sort of sadistic humour currently aimed at Tsuna. Tsuna gulped and looked above his head.

[Demetrio Benedetti, Level 38]

"Well then," Demetrio said in Japanese. "It seems that your little friend has awakened. Let's begin the… negotiation." Tsuna glanced over at Shouichi and Haru, but they didn't look at him.

"We will not be making the hover boots for you," Haru replied. Her hands were clenched and shaking, and her body language defensive, but her words remained firm and unwavering. A flash of annoyance passed through Demetrio's face and he walked over to Haru and slapped her. Shouichi and Tsuna tried to jerk forward to defend Haru, but their binds wouldn't allow them to move so easily.

"Don't touch her!" Tsuna roared. Demetrio turned to Tsuna and smiled. The smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Oh? You want to take her punishment?" he grinned nastily. "Alright then." He strode over to Tsuna and kicked him in the side, forcing Tsuna to the floor. Tsuna grit his teeth, not wanting to give Demetrio the satisfaction of hearing his pain. Demetrio cast a glance at Shouichi and Haru as he pulled out a pocket knife.

"If you don't make the boots for us, I might carve pretty little pictures into him." The knife dug into Tsuna's arm, but didn't draw blood. Tsuna stiffened. Shouichi's face was pale – no doubt he was having a stomach ache – as he turned to exchange a look with Haru. When Haru nodded, Shouichi looked down at the floor.

"We'll do it," he said in a tone of defeat. Tsuna's eyes widened. _No_, they couldn't do this! Whatever these men were going to do with the boots, Tsuna knew it wasn't pleasant. He tried to sit up, but the cold press of the knife, along with the fact that the knockout agent was still affecting him, stilled him.

"I knew you'd agree," Demetrio said smugly. He then yelled something in Italian and two men entered the room to untie Haru and Shouichi. Haru quickly stood up and took off her jacket, handing it to Shouichi.

"How about him?" she asked, gesturing to Tsuna. "Aren't you going to release him?" Demetrio laughed.

"No, I don't think I will. He'd make an _excellent_ bargaining chip against you two," he purred. Haru lowered her eyes and sighed, shoving her hands into her pockets.

"Alright," she said. "Let's start, Shouichi-san."

Suddenly, there was a burst of bright, _bright_ yellow and Tsuna found himself yanked away from Demetrio and up into the sky. "Hold on, Tsuna," Shouichi muttered as he carried Tsuna in his arms. "When I find a safe spot, I'll put you down." Tsuna nodded and wrapped his arms around Shouichi's neck to keep himself from falling. Curious, he looked down at Shouichi's feet and saw that he was wearing a pair of sneakers that were emitting flames from the bottom. Huh, so Haru and Shouichi had succeeded in modifying the flame boots.

All three men were staring at Tsuna and Shouichi, mouth open in shock. Haru took this chance to run forward and stab one of her knitting needles into Demetrio's arm. Demetrio let out a hiss of pain and immediately tried to backhand her across the face but Haru managed to activate her flames. Green lightning crackled through the knitting needle and Demetrio screamed in pain before collapsing to the floor, unconscious.

"Demetrio!" one of the men in the room yelped. He glared at Haru. "You bitch!" he cried as he took out a gun. Haru didn't give him a chance to load it, swiping at it and making the gun soar through the air before landing on the other side of the room with a clatter. Without missing a beat, Haru hit him in the solar plexus with the blunt side of her knitting needles, causing him to double over in pain.

"Haru-chan! Behind you!" Tsuna yelled out hysterically.

While Haru's back was turned towards him, the other man took out a knife and slashed Haru's back. Thankfully, it only made a slight tear in the fabric due to Haru's enhancement of the cloth. Haru whirled around and tried to hit the man with her knitting needles, but he easily blocked it with the knife. Her advantage of surprise had worn off, and the man was fighting with full power. Haru felt tears of fear welling up in her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away. There was no time to cry; she had to protect Shouichi and Tsuna!

Seeing that Haru was getting overpowered by the man, Shouichi quickly set Tsuna on the floor and tied the jacket around him. "Stay here, Tsuna," Shouichi told him before the yellow flames burst out of the bottom of his shoes once again and he propelled himself towards the man to kick on in the head. The man, having not expected Shouichi, stumbled forward, allowing Haru to nail him in the groin. A wheeze came out of the man's mouth as his knees gave out on him, and Haru used the blunt side of her knitting needles to hit him on the back of his head, rendering him unconscious.

"Shouichi-san," she said in a muted tone. "The other guy who untied us is still conscious." Shouichi nodded and walked over to the man, who was still doubled over, and delivered a swift hit to his neck. The man collapsed onto the ground immediately.

Haru walked over to Tsuna and cut through his binds with her knitting needles. "Are you alright, Tsuna-kun?" she asked. Tsuna nodded and all the tension in her body went away. Tears started spilling from her eyes as she hugged Tsuna and sobbed into his neck. "I was so scared, Tsuna-kun. It was so scary, they were so scary…" Tsuna hesitantly wrapped his arms around Haru, trying his best to comfort her.

"We need to move," Shouichi said after a while. His voice was shaking. "We don't know when they might wake up." Haru nodded and she drew back, wiping her tears from her face.

"Yeah. Let's go."

* * *

The three of them stumbled out of the safe house they had been kept in. Although they were battered and bruised, they were thankful that they were still alive.

"W-which way do you think we should go?" Shouichi asked after a long time of travelling. Tsuna shrugged and Haru pointed in the direction they were walking in.

"Let's keep going in the same direction," she suggested. "It would be less likely for us to go around in circles that way." Before they could go any further, though, there was a rustle and the sound of a twig snapped. Immediately, they moved towards each other, back to back, in case it was one of the men that had captured them. However, the figure who stepped out of the forest was smaller in stature, and most definitely not one of the men that had kidnapped them. In fact it was a boy, around Shouichi's age, with indigo hair and strangely coloured eyes. Tsuna glanced at the top of his head to see indigo letters.

[Rokudo Mukuro, Level 32]

Great, _another_ overpowered teenager.

* * *

The Gagliardo Famiglia was a nice bunch if one could get over the fact that they were, well, _Mafia_. Regardless, Tsuna was very thankful that they were willing to give the three of them a ride to the hotel they were supposed to be in. The boss of the Famiglia had asked Lancia – who was the strongest man in Italy, apparently – to drive them there. Mukuro had decided to follow them, along with two other boys, Chikusa and Ken. For some reason, Mukuro gave Tsuna the creeps. _It's probably the hair_, Tsuna thought to himself. _Hopefully, there will be no reason to worry_.

* * *

After sending them off to the hotel, the Gagliardo Famiglia bid them farewell. The rest of the day went by without any sort of complication whatsoever, giving Tsuna plenty of time to reflect on his actions. There was a bitter feeling within him as he thought about Haru and Shouichi fighting, and he soon realised that he was frustrated. The three of them were friends, weren't they? Should they be on equal ground? _Why_ were those two able to keep their cool and fight while Tsuna was only able to sit in a corner and watch them? Why was he so _useless_? He really was Dame-Tsuna, a hopeless boy who couldn't even protect his friends.

There was one thing that was glaringly obvious: he needed to get stronger.

* * *

**Meaningful**

First place went to a blond boy named Spanner. He had designed a fully functioning robot with a rather advanced artificial intelligence. Although Haru was upset that their group didn't get first place, she had to admit that Spanner deserved the prize. After the prize presentation, Tsuna, Shouichi, and Haru approached Spanner to congratulate him. Their conversation, however, soon went into complicated science and technological stuff that Tsuna didn't understand. Tsuna hung around awkwardly for a few minutes before he decided that he should probably go explore the place. Deciding to get something to eat, he went over to the banquet table. On his way there, however, he bumped into someone and fruit punch was spilled all over his clothes. Tsuna winced.

"_Oh my, I'm so sorry!_" the person he pumped into said something in Italian. Tsuna grimaced.

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand Italian," he replied. The person blinked and easily repeated his sentence in Japanese. Tsuna nodded, accepting his apology. The person began to take off his white jacket but Tsuna quickly stopped him. "It's fine!" Tsuna insisted. "I can go up and change!"

"Then wear this and go up and change! I'm sure you don't want to walk around with a giant pink stain on your shirt!" The person's purple eyes narrowed in stubbornness and the both of them stared at each other, willing the other party to give in. Of course, Tsuna was the first to crack.

"Alright then," he sighed, taking the jacket. "Thank you, Mr.…?"

"Just Byakuran's fine," he answered. Tsuna covertly glanced up at the boy's head.

[Byakuran Gesso, Level 15]

Yeap, he wasn't lying. Tsuna relaxed a bit more. "Let me walk you to your room?" Byakuran suggested. Tsuna wrinkled his nose and shook his head. Like hell he'd show a stranger where he was staying. Byakuran looked around him before leaning in closer to whisper to Tsuna. "_Please_ let me walk you to your room. I'm here with my parents but it's _really_ boring here and I need a reason to leave."

"Um." Tsuna blinked. "Alright."

* * *

"Byakuran-san, you're Italian, right?" Tsuna asked. Byakuran nodded in agreement. "Um, so why is your name 'Byakuran'? I mean, it's Japanese…"

Byakuran sighed. "My mother really likes flowers, and my father's a closet Japanophile. So they compromised and named me the Japanese version of white orchid." He seemed a little displeased, making Tsuna giggle.

"I think it's a nice name, though," he commented. Byakuran rolled his eyes and gave an exaggerated groan.

"Don't kid yourself, Tsuna. You don't have to fish for compliments."

Soon, they found themselves outside of Tsuna's hotel door. When Tsuna went into the room, Byakuran hovered around the doorway awkwardly. "I guess I should be taking my leave," he said with great reluctance. Tsuna hesitated for a while before his conscience won.

"If you want, you could stay in the room for a while. We could continue talking or something," Tsuna offered. This made Byakuran's purple eyes sparkle with delight.

"Can I? Thanks Tsuna! You're a life saver!"

* * *

"Hey Tsuna," Byakuran said as he was about to leave. "Do you think… Never mind." Tsuna tilted his head to the side to look at Byakuran curiously.

"Do I think what?" Tsuna asked. Byakuran hummed as he thought of the best way to ask the question.

"Do you sometimes feel that you're meant to be _more_ than what you are? Kind of like you were destined for greater things… Like life right now is boring and meaningless." Byakuran paused and let out a sheepish laugh. "I guess I'm not making much sense, am I?"

"Well, I thought that way in the past," Tsuna admitted. "I mean, not the 'I was destined for more' part, but the 'life is meaningless' part. But… I've changed. I have people that are precious to me now, my friends, and so I feel that life is worth living." Byakuran hummed contemplatively.

"Friends, huh…" he muttered to himself. Tsuna nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! I find that because I can talk to my friends every day and see how they're doing, I don't feel like life is boring. And besides, I got to meet you today; and our meeting isn't meaningless!" Tsuna tried to explain. Byakuran's eyes widened.

"Does that mean that we're friends?" he asked. Tsuna laughed brightly.

"Of course we are, Byakuran-san! So don't ever think that your life is meaningless, okay?"

* * *

**Title**

More than a year had passed since that fateful trip to Italy, and Tsuna was frustrated at his lack of growth. He had been training in whatever he could every day, going so far as to join Ryohei on his morning jogs, but everyone else's levels just shoots up faster than his. It was probably the fact that he didn't touch his academics at all, Tsuna realised, but it was really hard for Tsuna and Tsuna didn't know where to begin. He knew that he didn't know many things, but he was unsure as to what it was that he did not know, making it difficult for him to catch up on his schoolwork.

Why was he so _useless_?

Deep in thought, Tsuna didn't notice that he had accidentally stumbled into the territory of the Momokyokai Yakuza. When he realised it, however, it was too late. A few members of the Momokyokai Yakuza were surrounding him, making it impossible for him to leave without a fight. He felt his blood run cold as his mind overlapped the faces of the Yakuza with those of the suited men that had kidnapped him when he was in Italy. He couldn't move, not even to defend himself.

_Please_, Tsuna thought. _Someone please help me!_

Just as he had that thought, a familiar, bone-chilling voice uttered the five words that signified hell. "I'll bite you to death."

Hibari made quick work of the Yakuza, like Tsuna had expected him too. When Hibari glanced over at Tsuna, Tsuna squeaked and unconsciously backed away. Something unreadable flashed through Hibari's eyes.

"You're afraid of me," he said tonelessly. Tsuna was about to deny that claim, but the words got stuck in his throat. Hibari took that as a yes and turned around, walking off without another word. For some reason, Tsuna felt that Hibari was disappointed in him and also… a little hurt. When Tsuna could talk again, Hibari was long gone.

* * *

Hibari didn't come to Kokuyo Land for his weekly spars after that.

* * *

**That Man, from Italy**

"I'm home."

"Welcome back, Tsu-kun!" Tsuna's mother greeted him cheerfully. He kissed her on the cheek as greeting as he walked past her on the way to his room. He set down his bag and went back downstairs to the kitchen to help his mother prepare dinner. All in all, the normal daily routine.

"Oh, Tsu-kun," Nana said suddenly, prompting Tsuna to look over at her. She rarely talked when they were cooking unless it was to teach Tsuna something new. "What do you think of a home-tutor?"

Tsuna's first reaction was to reject it. He didn't want a home tutor to butt into his life. However, as the words of rejection were on his tongue, he paused. It would be handy for someone to explain the schoolwork to him. Kyoko and Haru weren't very good at teaching, Hana had no patience, Yamamoto was as bad as he was, and Shouichi used really complicated terms. A home tutor, someone who was_ qualified_ would be able to explain the work in a way that Tsuna could understand, and maybe Tsuna would finally be able to complete the quest of passing his exams. The experience gain for doing homework wasn't too bad either. And, as it was proven during their trip to Italy, Tsuna had to get stronger.

He wanted to fight _with_ his friends, not get protected by them.

"I think that it'd be great if I had one so that I can clarify the class material with him," Tsuna said eventually. Nana smiled at him.

"Great, I'll go call him straightaway then!" she walked out of the kitchen. "Oh, and be sure to turn down the fire when the pot starts to boil."

"Alright mum!"

* * *

Tsuna felt someone's presence enter the room and immediately assumed that it was his mother.

"Hey mum, should I put the onions or the garlic—"

"Ciaossu," said a voice that was definitely not his mother's. He paused for a second before turning down the heat and looked at the person who entered the room. He was a two year old child wearing a full black suit and a black fedora. Normally Tsuna would have believed him to be a lost child, but something prevented him from doing so.

[Reborn, Level 302]

"… Good evening," Tsuna greeted warily. "Are you the home tutor?"

The baby's (?) expression did not change, but Tsuna could somehow tell that he was smirking. "Yes I am," he said with a smug tone. "I've arrived three hours earlier, but I'll evaluate you now." Tsuna wondered if he should bend to Reborn's whims, or if he should stand firm. He decided to compromise.

"Ah, I apologise," he put on his best smile, consciously activating the _Dazzling Smile_ skill. "But I'm still in the middle of cooking dinner. Can we start the evaluation after mum and I are done?" A pause. "Are you staying for dinner?" At the slight pause after his words, Tsuna knew that Reborn was somewhat off-kilter at Tsuna's total acceptance of everything. He felt vindictively pleased at that. It was great to be the one doing the confusing instead of getting confused.

"Alright," Reborn finally said. "Meet me in your room after you're done." With that, he sauntered off. Tsuna wondered how that sort of walk could be pulled off with a baby's body.

* * *

"My real job," Reborn said. "Is to make you a Mafia boss."

"Game menu, quest log," Tsuna said immediately after. He looked at the space above the list of accepted quests.

[Story: Daily Life]

_So, it's begun._

* * *

_Pre-Chaos Story Complete  
_

_Proceed to next story? _

_(Yes) (No)_

* * *

**Author's note**: I'm not happy with this chapter. Sighs.

I wanted to add in Mukuro, but my brain was like "no way" so.

Byakuran has no memories/communications of his parallel selves, and probably never will. That is because Shouichi will not be happily travelling through time/AUs to become a musician.

Pre-Chaos has ended. Have a nice day.

Again, updated levels and skills on my tumblr.


	5. Pre-Chaos, Add-on Content

**Important notice! Outtakes may happen in the future or in the past! They don't have a fixed setting or timeline! They also are not really counted in the timeline for the original Game of Life storyline! They're just omakes!**

**Things that didn't make it to the original story. **

**Major OOC, taken from my tumblr.**

* * *

_Contains Gamer Outtakes I-III from exocara tumblr._

* * *

_Load Add-On Content?  
_

_[(Yes)] (No)_

_Loading..._

* * *

**001**

"FIGHT ME YOU COWARDS!" Kyoko yelled out, brandishing her pretty new umbrella. The bunch of big bullies that had tried to gang up on her and her brother the other day cowered in front of her. She smiled, enjoying the feeling of having people _fear_ and _respect_ her. It was glorious; she could now understand why Hibari happily ran his Disciplinary Committee.

"K-kyoko-chan?" Tsuna's voice called out from down the hall. Immediately, the hard grin on her face was replaced with a softer, more open one as she waved the umbrella, casting an illusion on the bullies, and turned around to greet Tsuna.

"Hello Tsuna!" she waved innocently. Tsuna paused and stared at the spot where the bullies sat suspiciously. Kyoko felt kind of proud of him; he was able to sense many of her illusions after all. Not even Hana, her most perceptive friend, could do that! However, she couldn't just let these bullies go. No, they had to be punished. She had even overheard them planning to take revenge on her brother and Tsuna! If Tsuna found out about them being here, they'd get off scot-free, and Kyoko didn't want that to happen. Therefore… "What a coincidence!" she placed her hand over her heart to emulate surprise. "Hana was just here looking for you! I think she went back to the classroom." She knew Hana would cover up for her.

"O-oh, okay. Thanks, Kyoko-chan." Casting one more suspicious look back at her general area, he walked to the classroom. Once he was out of sight, Kyoko dropped the illusions.

"_Now_,_ where were we?_"

* * *

**002**

Daemon has never seen such a promising illusionist like Kyoko before. He had also never been so scared of a little girl before.

"_What_ do you think you're going to do with Tsuna-kun?" she asked, her normal smile, tinged with a certain darkness, on her face and her umbrella in her hand.

"N-nothing, ma'am," Daemon stuttered out and immediately vanished into the shadows. He was _not_ going to take any chances.

* * *

**003**

"Ah, Kyoko-chan!" Haru called out. "How are your cooking lessons with Tsuna-kun coming along?" Both Haru and Kyoko were sitting in the Namimori dessert shop, enjoying all the pastries they could. Now that they were exercising, they found out that they could eat _way_ more sweets than before without becoming unhealthily overweight. They took great advantage of that fact.

"They're great! Tsuna-kun's progressing at a very fast rate! Soon, he'll be able to cook better than me," she admitted. "How about his sewing and knitting lessons with you?"

"Tsuna-kun's rather good at that too! But he's not picking it up as fast as he did his cooking, but that's probably because his mother teaches his cooking too. Ahh, just a while more before he can become the perfect spouse!" Haru sighed dreamily. Kyoko giggled.

"I know right! Even if he doesn't marry one of us, or even marry a girl for that matter, he'll still be able to make the other person happy. He's like his mother in that aspect, though. A budding Yamato Nadeshiko. I envy him _so_ much."

"Ah, but Kyoko-chan's a budding Yamato Nadeshiko too!" Haru exclaimed. She then paused. "Do you think Sawada-san is willing to give us lessons?"

The girls traded looks with one another, and that was the day many of their future antagonists felt a chill run down their spines.

* * *

**Gamer Outtakes II**

* * *

**001**

"Miura," Daemon said. "You need to react when people who are not children and are not your friends cry." Haru blinked in confusion.

"Hahi! But I _am_ reacting!" she exclaimed. Daemon pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Laughter is not an appropriate response," he hissed. Haru looked even more confused.

"But shouldn't Haru's reaction reflect what she feels inside? I mean, I find it funny, so I should laugh, right?"

"…" Daemon was left speechless. Tsunayoshi had some scary friends.

* * *

**002**

"So, you're Primo Jr.'s right hand woman?" Daemon asked. Hana rolled her eyes.

"No. But someone has to keep him sane. Apart from me, he's the only voice of reason in this group of idiots," she explained. "I can't be the only sane person left. I'd _die_."

"…" Again, Daemon was speechless. What was with Tsunayoshi's group of friends? They were even scarier than Giotto's! And that's saying something, considering that Daemon himself was part of that group.

* * *

**003**

"This is your ancestor, Giotto di Vongola," Daemon pointed to a blond man in the picture in Daemon's pocket watch. Tsuna kind of wanted to know how a ghost could carry about material objects.

Tsuna squinted at the picture. "Hey, doesn't he look a lot like me?" he asked. Daemon blinked and looked back at the picture.

"…no?" He raised an eyebrow when Tsuna insisted that they _did_ look alike. "Why not we ask your friends, then," Daemon said.

Kyoko took one look at Giotto's picture and shook her head. "Sorry Tsuna-kun," she smiled apologetically. "He doesn't look anything like you.

"Hahi!" Haru gasped in objection. "This man doesn't look like Tsuna-kun at all! Tsuna-kun is _way_ cut— I mean, they just don't look alike!"

"Hahaha, what do you mean, Tsuna?" Yamamoto laughed. "Don't be silly! The man in the picture has blond hair and you have brown!"

Shouichi nervously adjusted his glasses. "I apologise, Tsuna, but he doesn't really look like you. Well, the hair has _some_ resemblance but that's it…"

Tsuna didn't ask Hibari.

Tsuna didn't bother asking Ryohei.

"Tsuna." Hana's eye twitched as she saw the picture. "Are you sure you're a descendant of the guy? Or are you a carbon copy?"

"Hana-chan!" Tsuna's eyes sparkled as he moved to hug his friend. Hana easily dodged out of the way.

"I can't believe you even asked the monkeys before you asked me," she sighed, crossing her arms. "And as much as I like Haru and Kyoko, they don't have much common sense." She hummed contemplatively. "In fact, not many people here do," she realised. Tsuna squeaked at the revelation, alarmed.

"Does that mean," he whispered in horror. "That we are the only two sane people here?"

* * *

**004**

_(speech taken and modified from the Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett)_

"You can't give him that!" Haru shrieked, pointing to Lambo. "It's not safe!"

"It's a grenade, Haru-chan," Kyoko answered, smiling as cheerfully as always. "It's not meant to be safe."

"He's a child!" Haru tried to reason. Kyoko nodded in agreement.

"It's educational."

"Please, Kyoko," Hana begged. "Reconsider! What if he blows himself up?"

Kyoko blinked, and her smile grew brighter. "Then that will be an important lesson for him."

* * *

**Gamer Outtake III – sick **

Tsuna woke up that morning and immediately went back to sleep.

* * *

When Nana went to Tsuna's room to see why he wasn't down yet, she realised that he had a cold. Quietly pulling his blanket over him, she exited the room to make a call to the school.

* * *

Daemon came back from one of his weird ghostly trips to find Tsuna still in bed. After a while of observation, he finally realised that Tsuna had a cold. He panicked. He had been dead and uncaring about other lifeforms for so long that he had totally forgotten about how to take care of a sick person. He heard a groan and immediately whirled around to face Tsuna.

"How are you feeling, Tsunayoshi?" he asked, trying his best to sound as calm and as unruffled as usual. Tsuna coughed a few times before answering.

"I'm cold," he rasped out sleepily. Daemon nodded.

"Noted."

When Nana came into the room again to give Tsuna his medicine, she had to dig through a mountain of blankets to find her son.

* * *

"What?" Kyoko stared at Daemon, mouth open and a hand placed over it. "Tsuna-kun's sick?" Daemon nodded awkwardly. On one hand, he was still pretty scared of Kyoko. On the other hand, Tsuna needed someone who knew what they were doing.

"Hahi!" Haru popped out of nowhere, startling Daemon and almost making him scream. _God_ Tsuna's friends were terrifying. "Tsuna-kun needs help!"

"Oh? Tsuna's sick?" Yamamoto walked over to their table. "Then we need to make soup for him! My dad does that for me!"

Hana looked at the group from her table, but wisely did not join in. "I do not want to witness whatever hell-concoction they will come up with."

* * *

Haru, Kyoko, and Yamamoto didn't even get into the house with the… 'soup' they made. Nana took one look at it and took it out of their hands.

They _were_ allowed to visit, though.

* * *

"Hey, Tsuna. Are you feeling better?" Shouichi asked from the door way. Tsuna made a strange sound that seemed like a cross between a dying animal and a grunt of affirmation. Shouichi correctly assumed that it was a 'no'.

"Well, if you're feeling better, I've brought a couple of games you could play." Shouichi set the plastic bag he had on the table, along with a pile of paper. "Also, I've done today's homework for you, so you can properly rest."

Tsuna made a happier sound at that.

* * *

Ryohei was going to stand underneath Tsuna's window and encourage him to "GET BETTER SOON, TO THE EXTREME!" but he decided against it. Ultimately, it wouldn't do well for Tsuna's state if he were to do that. Instead, he brought a bunch of isotonic drinks and peppermint tea to the house.

Throughout everything, he never shouted even once.

* * *

Hibari was actually going to bite Tsuna to death for not going to school, but when he entered Tsuna's room through the window and saw Tsuna's pathetic shivering form, he paused. Instead, he took another blanket from the pile in the corner of the room and gently spread it over Tsuna.

"Get better soon, little animal," he muttered. "If you aren't well enough to fight me by the end of the week, I'll bite you to death."

* * *

Hana showed up at Tsuna's house with a fruit basket and some cough drops.

"You're lucky your mum threw the soup away," Hana commented. "I think I saw it move a few times."

Tsuna made a horrified sound and Hana laughed.

"Get well soon, Tsuna. Things are too normal without you around."

* * *

*********Another Important Note:** **Pre-Chaos, Chapter IV is the previous chapter**


	6. Daily Life, Chapter I

Why do people love Hibari so much lol.

Also there's a lot of dialogue in this chapter ugh.

**Thank you so much for the overwhelming support! I love you all!**

* * *

**Dying Will**

"REBORN!" Tsuna's voice was heard echoing throughout the neighbourhood. "Tell Hibari-san how I feel with my dying will!"

Upon hearing that, Hana wondered just what Tsuna had gotten himself into this time.

* * *

Tsuna ran all the way to school in record time and flung open the windows of the Disciplinary Committee Office. Hibari, the only person there, regarded him with a mix of confusion and alarm.

"Little animal, what are you doing?" he asked in an icy tone, trying to mask his confusion. Carnivores did not do confused.

"Hibari-san!" Tsuna yelled. "You are very scary and honestly I am terrified of you, but I want you to know that I think you're very reliable and I kind of like you a little! So, please come back to Hamagure; we all miss you!"

Suddenly, the flame on his head sizzled out, leaving Tsuna very confused and very naked in Hibari's presence. An orange screen popped up in front of him, and Tsuna blinked in surprise.

[Active skill: _Dying Will Mode_ has been created!]

"Little animal," Hibari hissed out. Twenty other pop-ups appeared, telling Tsuna that his _Sense Danger_ and _Sense Killing Intent_ were alerting him to a major threat. Tsuna laughed nervously as he began to back away.

"Hi-Hibari-san, please let me explain…"

"I will bite you to death for public indecency!"

"Hiiieee! Hibari-san!"

The beating Tsuna received was especially brutal. Throughout it all, Tsuna didn't realised that Hibari never once made eye contact with him.

"You feel closer to _Hibari Kyoya_. Your _Hibari Kyoya_ bond has gained a level! You have received the _Hibari Kyoya _flag!"

Tsuna inwardly sobbed about his life_. _

* * *

**Primo **

"The Vongola Famiglia's first boss retired early and crossed over to Japan. Vongola Primo was your great-great-great grandfather, and hence you are part of the Vongola bloodline and a legitimate boss candidate," Reborn told him. Tsuna paused at his words.

"Vongola… Primo…?" he muttered to himself.

"_Primo Jr._"

Tsuna's eye twitched. "Reborn," he started, a foreboding feeling building up within him. "By any chance, is Vongola the Italian word for clam?" Reborn raised an eyebrow at Tsuna's question.

"Yes it is, Dame-Tsuna. How did you know?"

"Just a lucky guess." Tsuna's eye twitched again.

_Daemon Spade, you've got a lot of explaining to do._

* * *

**Activated**

"DAEMON SPADE!" Tsuna roared as he marched into Kokuyo Land. "EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"

"Nufufu," Daemon chuckled. However, his tone was a bit strained. "I just realised that I have to check on something. I'll see you in a few weeks, Tsunayoshi," he said quickly; and then he was gone, leaving Tsuna in an empty room to scream at nothing. A few minutes later, Hana popped her head into the room.

"Hey, is it safe to come in now or should I wait outside?" Hana asked. Tsuna stared at her blankly, uncomprehending, and Hana waved her phone in the air. Tsuna then remembered that he had sent a mass text out to Hamagure for them to meet at Kokuyo Land if they were free.

"Oh. Yeah. It's fine, come on in," Tsuna said after he took a deep breath to cool himself down. Hana nodded and stepped into the room, sitting down on one of the few undamaged chairs in the room.

"So, what's the problem?" Hana asked. "Does it have anything to do with what happened earlier this evening?"

"What happened earlier this evening?" Tsuna tilted his head to the side in confusion. Hana smirked.

"Oh, you know…" She frowned, doing her best impression of Tsuna. "REBORN! Tell Hibari-san how I fe—"

"Hiiee!" Tsuna interrupted her. "Enough, enough!" His face was red with embarrassment as he groaned and let himself fall to the ground. "I'll tell you when the rest have come. I don't want to repeat it more than once." Hana laughed in amusement but didn't press the matter. Within fifteen minutes, the rest of Hamagure were there, including a rather irritated Hibari.

"Tsuna, you've never called us out before!" Ryohei commented. "Is something extremely wrong? Do you need our help?"

Feeling the eyes of everyone on him, Tsuna fidgeted as he tried to muster up his courage and confidence to answer Ryohei's question.

"I just found out that I'm going to become a Mafia boss."

* * *

Everyone took the news remarkably well, all things considered. Even Hana had just buried her face in her hands and lamented about the destruction of her relatively peaceful life.

"Hahi!" Haru suddenly exclaimed. "But aren't the Mafia… those people who kidnapped us in Italy?" Both Shouichi and Tsuna stiffened up. Surprisingly, it was Hibari who answered Haru's question.

"I will bite them all to death," he said in a very matter of fact tone. "Those who harm the citizens of Namimori will be punished." Everyone relaxed at that claim.

"Thank you, Hibari-san," Tsuna said, smiling. Hibari met Tsuna's eye for a fraction of a second before giving a grunt and quickly looking away.

"I'm not doing this for you," he muttered. "If that is all, I will take my leave. Do not call me out again so late at night, little animal." As he was about to leave the building, Kyoko stopped him.

"Um," her eyes flickered about sheepishly. "We should probably have told you this from the start but Nagi-chan and I have cast an illusion on this place when we came in because Nagi-chan sensed that someone was spying on us."

Everyone was suddenly on the alert. "What sort of illusion did you cast?" Shouichi asked, adjusting his glasses nervously as he wrapped an arm around his stomach. Kyoko giggled and grabbed Nagi's hand, pulling Nagi closer to her. Nagi gave a squeak of surprise and blushed.

"It was Nagi-chan's fantastic idea! She and I made it look like Tsuna-kun was asking us questions about his homework. We used a memory of last week's homework session as our base and improvised from there." She grinned. "Nagi-chan's really awesome, right?" Nagi fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

"It's nothing, really," Nagi said softly, biting her lip. Hana huffed and Haru crossed her arms.

"Hahi! That wasn't 'nothing'! That was really smart of you, Nagi-chan!" Haru said.

"That's right. I won't allow you to demean yourself like that," Hana agreed, moving forward to flick Nagi's forehead. Nagi squeaked again and clutched her forehead with both hands, making Hana smirk and Kyoko giggle.

"Thanks, Nagi-san." Tsuna made sure to pour every bit of gratefulness into his words. Nagi really had too much negativity in her home life. "You're a great help to us, and you're very precious to us all. So whatever you do is definitely not 'nothing'." Nagi blushed brightly and looked at the ground.

"Thank you, Tsuna-san," she whispered.

"You feel closer to _Dokuro Chrome/Yoinara Nagi_. Your _Dokuro Chrome/Yoinara Nagi_ bond has gained a level!" Tsuna sighed and waited for the world to go back to normal. It didn't, for the Voice still had something else to say. "You have chosen the _Romance Route_ answer. _Dokuro Chrome/Yoinara Nagi_ _Romance Route_ has been activated!"

_What._

The world regained its colour and life, but Tsuna was still frozen in shock. His brain had stalled and the Voice's last words were playing on in a loop in his head.

_Why._

* * *

**Sleep**

When Tsuna reached home, it was already rather late. He quietly tip-toed up the stairs, not wanting to disturb his mother's sleep, and entered his room, closing the door just as silently. He turned around and almost screamed his head off. As it was, he shuddered quite violently and slumped to the ground, his knees having given out under him.

"I've been waiting for you, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said from his place in a large and elaborate roller chair. It was gold and shaped like a giant lion's head, which was probably what shocked Tsuna.

"Reborn!" Tsuna whined. It came out much louder than he thought and he immediately clamped his hands over his mouth. When there was no other sound, he continued to talk, albeit a little softer this time. "Please don't scare me like that. What if I wake my mother up?" Reborn didn't answer his question. Instead he pulled his fedora further down to cast a shade over his eyes.

"Mafia bosses don't get startled. It looks like I've got my work cut out for me." Reborn's words were ominous and gave Tsuna a horrible feeling. "Your training will begin tomorrow."

_But I don't want to be a Mafia boss!_ Tsuna wanted to say. "W-what do you mean?" Tsuna asked instead but Reborn was already sleeping. He sighed. It looks like he wouldn't be able to meet his friends at Kokuyo Land after school tomorrow. And it was Hibari's designated sparring day too! He just hoped that Hibari wouldn't be too angry if he didn't show up. He sent another mass text out to his friends to tell them that he would be busy the next day, before he went to bed.

Except… Reborn had taken his bed and Tsuna didn't really feel up to dismantling the traps and shifting Reborn somewhere else. Nimbly, he ducked and avoided all the wires and got into the bed with Reborn, carefully not touching his tutor. The bed was big enough for the both of them, anyway.

* * *

**I won't**

"And the answer is five point six two?" Immediately after Tsuna said the answer, he flinched.

"Correct." Reborn sounded a little displeased. Tsuna relaxed. He wouldn't get blown up this time, or have to run laps with dogs chasing after him, or get shocked by electricity… Tsuna had to admit that Reborn's method motivated him to learn more in a short period of time, and that his academics _were_ improving.

_But at what cost?_

"Next question. Triangle ABC has AC equals to BC. Angle ACB is ninety-six degrees. D is a point in triangle ABC such that angle DAB is eighteen degrees, and angle DBA is thirty degrees. What is angle ACD?"

"You've got to be kidding me." Tsuna couldn't hold back the words from his mouth. Reborn smirked, waving his gun in the air.

"That isn't an answer, Dame-Tsuna," he said in a mocking sing-song voice. Tsuna shuddered and wisely kept his mouth shut. Taking a piece of paper, he started to draw out the triangle and label what he knew.

_Alright, I'll be able to find out angles CAB and CBA if I were to do this… because this triangle is an isosceles triangles…_

Tsuna could literally feel himself getting smarter.

[_Academics – Mathematics_ has gained a level!]

[Intelligence has gained a point!]

Or that could be the skills and stat increases taking effect.

"Is the answer seventy-two?" Reborn smirked and Tsuna's _Sense Danger_ skill sent him three different pop-ups. Tsuna whimpered.

"Wrong."

"HIIEEE!"

* * *

Tsuna was dying. He could feel himself slipping away; there was bright light in the distance beckoning him…

Reborn kicked him in the head. "Stop being so dramatic, Dame-Tsuna." Tsuna only groaned in response. There was a brief period of silence that allowed Tsuna to figuratively lick his wounds in peace. Of course, it was soon broken by Reborn.

"Aren't you going to see your friends today, Dame-Tsuna?" he asked conversationally. Tsuna shook his head and winced. Right, moving body parts was a bad idea.

"No, I told them I had to study with my home tutor." Technically, it wasn't a lie. "Wait." Tsuna sat up, disregarding the pain that came from his bruises. "How did you know about my friends?" _Does the Mafia know about them?_ was the unspoken question.

Reborn seemed pleased for some reason. "I have my ways of finding out," he said vaguely. "And you can relax; no one else knows about them." Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's good." Unconsciously, he looked out of the window, in the direction of Kokuyo Land.

"You miss them," Reborn stated. Tsuna blinked in surprise and hummed, thinking about Reborn's statement.

"Yeah, I guess I do," he laughed. "I even miss Hibari-san! I was supposed to spar with him today as well…" he mused carelessly. Reborn's eyes glinted with interest.

"Spar?" Tsuna immediately realised his mistake.

"Um, it's nothing special, really. Hibari-san just tries to beat me down and I mostly dodge," he said quickly, trying to diffuse the situation. It didn't work. Reborn smirked at him.

"I would like to see one of those… spars."

"No—" Tsuna was interrupted.

"Little animal." Tsuna froze up and robotically turned to look at the window. Sure enough, Hibari was there and he looked rather displeased. His steel grey eyes flickered between Tsuna and Reborn before finally settling on Tsuna. "Is he the home-tutor?" Tsuna nodded slowly. Hibari's eyes flashed. "Is he strong?" Tsuna paused and looked between Hibari and Reborn.

[Hibari Kyoya, Level 61]

[Reborn, Level 302]

"Yes he is," Tsuna said finally. _Please don't fight him_, he wanted to add but managed to restrain himself. He knew that if he said that, Hibari would most _definitely_ want to fight Reborn. Hibari raised an eyebrow at Tsuna's words.

"Hoh? I'll take your word for it." He hopped from the windowsill and into Tsuna's room, pointing a tonfa at Reborn. "Fight me."

"Hiiee!" Tsuna wanted to pull his hair out. In retrospect, he should have seen this coming.

Reborn calmly stayed where he was, not even looking at the tonfa. "Fight Tsuna instead," he said. Hibari scoffed.

"I'll fight the little animal later on, regardless." Neither Hibari nor Reborn looked like they were going to back down, which made Tsuna fear about the safety of the house's infrastructure.

"Uh. Hibari-san." He winced when both sets of eyes settled on him. "I'm sorry but I'm not really at full strength today so I can't fight you. And I don't think Reborn is at full strength either." Tsuna's eyes flickered to Reborn and his baby body. Yeap, _definitely_ not at full strength. "So maybe we can postpone the spar to a later date?" Tsuna quickly activated the _Dazzling Smile_ skill and hoped that nothing bad would happen. There was a period of silence as Hibari stared at Tsuna, obviously affected by the smile. Then he nodded and turned towards the window.

"Next week, same as always," he said before he left the room. Tsuna let out a sigh of relief and looked over to Reborn. The hitman seemed to shake himself out of his daze and walked over to Tsuna.

"A Mafia boss is never _not_ at full strength." Tsuna bit back a groan.

"I'm not going to be a Mafia boss, Reborn," Tsuna finally said the words he had been afraid to say the previous day. Reborn's eyes glinted dangerously.

"I have been tasked to train you to be the Vongola Decimo, and I do not fail my tasks." Tsuna squeaked and his courage curled into a small little ball.

"I…" _Black suits and fake names. Sweet smelling poison and silver knives. A dangerous man with orange hair and grey eyes, the cold press of steel against flesh. _

"_If you don't make the boots for us, I might carve pretty little pictures into him."_

Tsuna _couldn't_ be like that. He _wouldn't _be like that, and he would never condone such actions.

_Three children against three grown men. _

"I won't be a Mafia boss!" Tsuna burst out suddenly, startling Reborn. Before Reborn could recover, Tsuna was already out of the door, tugging on his gloves and disappearing in a flare of orange.

* * *

"I don't want to be a Mafia boss." Kyoko exchanged distressed looks with Hana and Haru. When Tsuna had reached Kokuyo Land, all he did was sit in a corner, hugging his knees, and repeat that phrase. The three girls were the only ones in Kokuyo Land, as everyone else had other activities, and they had no idea how to deal with the situation. They had tried to reassure Tsuna had he wouldn't become a Mafia boss, but it had no effect on him.

"I wish onii-san was here," Kyoko sighed. "He'd probably be loud and enthusiastic enough to startle Tsuna-kun out of his… situation."

"I don't get it!" Hana was frustrated. "He seemed alright with the news yesterday! Why break down now?"

"Maybe Tsuna-kun finally realised that being a Mafia boss entails," Haru speculated. "I mean, we don't have good memories of the Mafia world…" Haru shuddered and clutched at herself, her eyes going dark and distant. She quickly shook her head, drawing herself out of her memories.

"Vongola…" The girls' attention immediately snapped to Tsuna when they heard him start something new. "Vongola is the largest, most ruthless Mafia Famiglia in the world. An empire built on corpses and blood and sin. I… don't want to be the boss of such a… thing," Tsuna whispered. Kyoko bit her lip and crouched down in front of Tsuna.

"Tsuna-kun, do you know anything else about Vongola?" she asked. Perhaps, with a little more information, Shouichi could look into it and Hamagure could see if there was anything they could do to help Tsuna. They'd systematically dismantle all the corrupt parts of Vongola, or even destroy Vongola itself, if they had to. Tsuna had given them a home, a place to belong to, a _family_. This was the least they could do for him.

"I… know that there were three candidates before me, but they're all dead. I know that Daemon-san is somehow related to Vongola…" Tsuna blinked, suddenly remembering the story Daemon told him.

"_The vigilante group, back then, had protected people in the name of justice."_

"Tsuna? Did you remember something?" Hana prodded, seeing a spark of life in Tsuna's eyes. She couldn't repress her smile when the spark grew into a flame.

"I think… Daemon-san said that Vongola used to be a vigilante group." Tsuna slowly got back up to his feet, and clenched his fists. "Then, if I am to be Vongola Decimo, I will bring Vongola back to its roots, and restore Vongola back to what Daemon-san and his friends once loved! I'll do it… with my dying will!" An orange flame flickered to life on his forehead as orange bled into his eyes. Haru stared at him in awe, Kyoko smiled in happiness, and Hana regarded him with a small degree of alarm.

"That's nice and all, but… your hair's on fire," Hana pointed out. The fire immediately extinguished and Tsuna's hands flew to his hair as he let out a shriek. The girls laughed, and soon Tsuna joined in, feeling that a weight had been taken off him.

_[Active Skill: Hyper Dying Will Mode has been created!]_

* * *

"So," Daemon smirked as he shot a glance at his boss. "What do you think of your clone?"

"I think that you need to stop calling him that," Giotto said dryly, shooting Daemon a flat look. His orange eyes were soon drawn back to Tsuna. "Tsunayoshi has grown into a fine man," Giotto finally said. Daemon looked away to hide his smile.

_I think so too._

* * *

**Title**

Reborn was worried, although he'd never _ever _admit it. He came to Namimori expecting a student similar to Dino – whiny, pathetic, resistant – but got this strange child instead. Sawada Tsunayoshi, also known as Dame-Tsuna, moved with an unnatural grace sometimes, and his easy acceptance of almost everything everything – barring the whole Mafia boss thing – reminded Reborn of Vongola's old stories; the ones of the first Sky and his benevolence. Also, Dame-Tsuna's smile… Once Reborn had been hit with a full blast of it, he found himself alarmingly unable to move. It was really… something else.

And now, after a very unexpected outburst, he had left the vicinity unnaturally quickly and didn't come home for over two hours.

Just as he was about to go out to look for him – and bring him back home kicking and screaming – Reborn heard the entrance to the house open and Tsuna call out "I'm home." Reborn had to restrain himself from immediately running down the stairs to kick Tsuna in the head; he had to maintain his image, after all.

He waited for all of two seconds before making his way out of the room.

-p

"I'm sorry mum. I'll be sure to tell you before I leave the house next time," Tsuna apologised to his mother. Nana shook her head and gave a smile that was too cheerful and too fragile to be real.

"It's alright, Tsu-kun! You're a big boy now, you don't have to tell me everything!" Tsuna shook his head and pulled his mother into another hug.

"I'll tell you because I want to. I won't leave you." _Not like dad. _was his unsaid vow to himself. His mother hugged him tightly for a minute before pushing him away.

"Oh, look at the time! I have to go make dinner now."

"Let me help you." It was always good to grind his _Cooking_ level. However his mother stopped him with a smile and gestured to the stairs.

"No, it's fine. Reborn-kun wants to talk to you!" Tsuna blinked and looked at the stairs. Reborn was standing at the top of it, looking awfully ominous. He laughed sheepishly.

* * *

"Dame-Tsuna, your behaviour was—"

"Absolutely unacceptable, I know," Tsuna interrupted, eyes fixed on the ground. "It was irresponsible of me to just leave like that." Reborn glared at him for a while before whacking him on the head with a Leon-mallet. Tsuna squeaked in pain but didn't retaliate.

"It's good that you know that. As punishment, your training will be doubled tomorrow."

"Hiiee? Is that even possible?!" Reborn raised the Leon-mallet, a menacing glint in his eye, and Tsuna winced. "Alright, alright! Please don't hit me!"

* * *

**Skipping Levels**

There was a new transfer student in his class. Normally, Tsuna wouldn't pay much attention to them. However, once the transfer student had stepped into his class, two pop-ups from _Sense Danger_ and five pop-ups from _Sense Killing Intent_ had bombarded him. Quickly, Tsuna shot a look above the transfer student's head.

[Gokudera Hayato, Level 16]

There were two reasons to his level: either he was stronger than the average fourteen year old, or he had been held back two years. With the way Gokudera was glaring at Tsuna, Tsuna was willing to bet the former. With his luck, it was probably Reborn who called Gokudera over.

As he walked over to Tsuna's desk, he kicked it, making Tsuna fall back onto the ground. He groaned as he picked himself up. _Yeap, definitely Reborn-sent._

"Tsuna, are you alright?" Hana whispered. Tsuna nodded, laughing quietly.

"Yeah I'm fine," he replied. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Kyoko was surreptitiously holding the handle of her umbrella, while Yamamoto looked almost furious. Tsuna quickly sent them a look to tell them to calm down. Chances were, Gokudera didn't even know what he was getting into; Tsuna sure felt that way all the time when sent on Reborn-quests. Quickly scribbling something on a piece of paper, he folded it and flicked it onto Gokudera's table when the teacher back was turned. Tsuna watched Gokudera glare at the paper for a while before opening it and reading it. When Gokudera glanced up at Tsuna, Tsuna made sure he activated his _Dazzling Smile_ skill. Gokudera's went wide and a pink tinge dusted across his cheeks for a while, but he soon nodded jerkily and turned to look somewhere else with an annoyed sound.

Man, the _Dazzling Smile_ skill really was useful.

* * *

"So? You wanted to meet me after school?" Gokudera asked, his tone hostile. Tsuna looked up from his book – his workbook, that is. He was still trying to grind his Intelligence stats after all – when he heard Gokudera's voice. He had been busy thinking about the best way to tackle the problem that was Gokudera Hayato's hostility, and had decided to counterattack it with excessive friendliness.

"Ah, Gokudera-san. How has your first day in Namimori Middle been?" Tsuna asked with a smile. Gokudera's eyes narrowed.

"Cut the crap," he growled out. "I know that you didn't call me out for niceties." Tsuna blinked in surprise before smiling sheepishly.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Um, did Reborn happen to call you here?" he asked.

"That's right," someone who definitely wasn't Gokudera answered. Tsuna jumped in surprise at Reborn's voice, which was a natural, ingrained reflex of anyone who had been trained by the hitman. Reborn turned his attention to Gokudera. "You came earlier than I expected, Gokudera Hayato."

_Called it, I _so_ called it._

Tsuna's face didn't give anything away. "So Gokudera-san is from the Mafia?" Reborn nodded.

"Smoking Bomb Hayato, a human explosive device that can conceal dynamite all over his body," he replied. Tsuna made a noise of acknowledgment. At least he knew what he was going up against now. He shoved his hands into his pockets to take out his gloves, in case the confrontation became violent.

"Is there a chance that we could discuss the… problem you have with me in a civil manner?" Tsuna asked, crossing his fingers and hoping with all his will. Gokudera's scowl dashed his hopes.

"No," he bit out before throwing two lit dynamites at Tsuna. Immediately, Tsuna knew that he couldn't dodge them, as they would still blow up significant parts of the school and _who knew what Hibari would do_? So, the solution would be to defuse all the dynamites. Thank god the modified flame boots he wore gave him a passive five point increase in speed. How, he did not know but, as always, he wasn't going to question it. The callouses Tsuna had on his fingers from the various crafting (cutting himself), sewing (poking himself), and cooking (burning himself) he did numbed the pain he felt from defusing the dynamites.

"Gokudera-san!" Tsuna called out through his defusing. "Please let us talk this through!"

"Double bomb!" Gokudera answered. Tsuna squeaked and tried his best to defuse the bombs. He didn't manage to defuse a few of them and they exploded, making Tsuna wince at the craters on the ground.

"Triple bomb!" Seeing that Tsuna hadn't been blown up yet, Gokudera growled in frustration. _Where was he keeping all this dynamite?!_ Seeing the pile of dynamites in Gokudera's arm, Tsuna knew that there was absolutely no way he could defuse all of them, and immediately sought out the best escape route possible. Gokudera awkwardly fumbled with the large amount of dynamites in his arms as he tried to light them all at one go. Technically, he succeeded. However, a single stick of lit dynamite fell out of the pile and onto the floor, causing Gokudera's grip to slacken in shock. Tsuna had a fraction of second to decide what he should do.

[Quest available: Rescue type. Would you like to accept the quest?]

[Quest available: Escape type. Would you like to accept the quest?]

With a dry laugh, Tsuna ran towards Gokudera. Why did he always find himself in such situations?

* * *

[Quest complete. Gain 550xp. You have completed more than five Rescue type quests! You have received the Novice Hero title!]

Tsuna was learning new things about the weird system every day. But first.

"Gokudera-san, are you alright?" Tsuna was a bit worried when Gokudera stared at the ground and kept quiet.

"Jyuudaime!" Gokudera's head suddenly snapped up as he looked at Tsuna with sparkling green eyes. "I'll follow you forever!"

"Um."

"You have established a bond with _Gokudera Hayato_. Your _Gokudera Hayato_ bond is now level twelve!"

_Wait, did it just skip level one to eleven?!_

* * *

**Power Levelling**

"Gokudera-kun, do you trust me?" Tsuna asked Gokudera once they were outside Kokuyo Land. Reborn was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't mean he wasn't there. _Watching_.

"Of course, Jyuudaime! I trust you with my life!"

"Erm… I'm not the best person to be entrusted with that…" Tsuna pointed out awkwardly. "But anyway, just… follow my lead, alright?" Gokudera nodded and Tsuna walked into Kokuyo Land, where Hamagure (sans Hibari, as usual) was having a homework session.

* * *

"Alright, that's enough data. Nagi-chan and I have cast the illusion now!" Kyoko announced, and Yamamoto immediately closed his workbook.

"Man! Even pretend-studying is hard!" he complained. Hana whacked him with her rolled-up notebook.

"You're not supposed to fake it! You're _actually_ _supposed_ to study, you _monkey_!" she snapped. Yamamoto just laughed as he dodged Hana's increasingly irritated swipes.

"J-Jyuudaime?" Gokudera glanced at Tsuna, concerned. Tsuna smiled at him.

"Gokudera-kun, welcome to Hamagure! I guess we owe you some explanations…"

* * *

"You know…" Gokudera said, staring at the red flames in his palm. "These flames are supposedly very hard to activate in the Mafia." There was total utter silence before…

"MAFIA?!"

Gokudera looked startled. "You mean you didn't know?"

"NO!"

"O-oh… Well you see…" Gokudera began to explain about the different sort of flames and their relation to the sky. There was a heavy, contemplative silence after that before Tsuna broke it.

"So does that mean it's alright for Reborn to know that we can use flames?"

* * *

Reborn took the news quite well. Tsuna only had his training tripled for five days, which was added on top of the new flame training Reborn was subjecting the entire Hamagure to. It was nice for Tsuna to have someone to suffer with for once.

He was also rather pleased when he heard Reborn mutter about 'revising schedules' and 'unexpected stunts'. Any time Tsuna could one-up Reborn was a good time.

* * *

A few weeks later, Gokudera was walking Tsuna home from Kokuyo Land.

"Thanks for always walking me home, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna said. Gokudera ducked his head bashfully.

"It's nothing, really. I'm your subordinate; this is the least I can do." Tsuna immediately stopped in his tracks and grabbed Gokudera's wrists, holding them in front of him.

"Don't say that!" Tsuna frowned. "You're not nothing, and you're not my subordinate either! You're my friend, _our_ friend, and in Hamagure, everyone's equal. We're _family_," Tsuna stressed. Gokudera looked a little taken aback at Tsuna's words.

"But I'm just a newcomer! I'm… I'm not as clever as Irie, as creative as Miura, as reliable as Kurokawa…" He looked away, frustrated. Tsuna tugged on Gokudera's hands to make him look back at Tsuna. Tsuna somewhat understood Gokudera's feelings; they were somewhat like how his had been. _Alone, useless, unwanted…_

"Repeat after me, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna said.

"Alright, Jyuudaime."

"You are my friend."

"Jyuudaime?" Gokudera looked extremely confused.

"You are my friend," Tsuna said more firmly.

"…You are my friend."

"And it doesn't matter who I am not."

"And it doesn't matter who I am not," Gokudera parroted uncomprehendingly.

"Because my friends like me for who I am."

"Because… my friends like me for who I am."

"And it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about me!" Tsuna finished.

"And it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about me…" Gokudera blinked rapidly and Tsuna loosened his grip, allowing Gokudera to rub at his eyes. "Thank you, Jyuudaime," he muttered.

"Anytime, Gokudera-kun!"

"You feel closer to _Gokudera Hayato_. Your _Gokudera Hayato _bond has gained three levels!"

_Seriously, how does it keep on power-levelling?_

* * *

**Phone Call **

Tsuna's phone rang insistently at three in the morning. Tiredly, he picked up the phone and a voice he hadn't heard in years blasted over the speaker.

"TSUNA I NEED YOUR HELP!" was literally all Tsuna could make out before the rest of his words became unintelligible. Tsuna waited until he was done before he spoke.

"Byakuran-san?" Tsuna and Byakuran had become penpals after Tsuna left Italy. Their relationship gave him mixed feelings. On one hand, he genuinely appreciated the company Byakuran gave to him, along with the philosophical ramblings about life; but on the other hand there were only so many times one could take being woken up, in the middle of the night, by the Voice screeching about friendship and levels.

"Tsuna!" Byakuran sounded hysterical. Tsuna tried to blink his sleep-haze away.

"Byakuran-san, please take a deep breath and repeat what you've said. Slowly, this time."

"Alright." There was a pause as Byakuran did as Tsuna said. "Tsuna. I can talk to other versions of myself in other worlds, and they all want total world domination! What should I do?!" Tsuna tried to process Byakuran's words, but the only thing that went in was the phrase 'total world domination', and he treated it like one of their life-is-deep questions.

"Total world domination? Why would anyone want that? It sounds like a lot of work and really boring, too. It'll be better if we just stick to a small group of friends, right? I mean… how can I put it… Would you want to be on top of the world and lonely, or would you rather be surrounded by the people you know and love?" There was a long period of silence in which Tsuna almost fell back asleep, but Byakuran eventually answered.

"You're right Tsuna. I almost got swayed by them for a second!" Tsuna was glad to no longer hear the hysterical note in his voice. "Thank you for being my voice of reason! I'll see you soon!" And then all Tsuna heard was the dial tone.

_Wait, how did he get my number?_ Tsuna paused for a second, but decided that it was another problem for another day. He fell back into bed and tried to sleep when…

"You feel closer to _Byakuran Gesso_! Your _Byakuran Gesso_ bond has gained a level!"

"GODDAMMIT!"

* * *

**Road**

Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Tsuna were walking to Kokuyo Land together. As they were about to cross the road, Gokudera suddenly noticed something.

"Yamamoto, why are you holding Jyuudaime's hand?" he demanded protectively. Yamamoto and Tsuna both blinked in surprise before glancing down at their interlaced hands. With a shriek of surprise, Tsuna's face went red and he tried to pull is hand away from Yamamoto's. In retaliation, Yamamoto tightened his grip, preventing Tsuna's hand from slipping out of his grasp.

"That's because we're crossing a road right now; I always hold Tsuna's hand whenever we cross the road!"

"Since when?" Tsuna asked, voice high. Yamamoto thought for a while.

"Since the time you saved me!" he replied.

"Why didn't I notice?"

"Beats me. I just figured you didn't mind." Yamamoto turned his attention to Gokudera and his gaze suddenly turned serious. "Gokudera, you have to hold Tsuna's hand whenever he crosses the road as well."

Gokudera spluttered. "W-why should I?!"

"It is to keep him safe," Yamamoto replied, still uncharacteristically serious. Something seemed to switch on in Gokudera's mind and he nodded, a determined expression on his face.

"I will do my best to protect Jyuudaime!" he declared as he snatched up Tsuna's other hand.

"Hiieeeee!"

* * *

_Continue? _

_(Yes) (No)_

* * *

**Author's note**

Byakuran's probably early, but he won't show up in Daily Life. I don't know how I'll be doing Kokuyo arc, or if it'll even be called Kokuyo arc. Warning first: Hamagure won't be fighting Mukuro's gang. They will talk it out because non-violence, yeah!

No outtakes for this chapter, but levels and bonds on tumblr as always.

Reborn hasn't met Daemon. Yet. Does anyone even know that Daemon is (was, in this case) a bad guy?

My holidays are ending. Wonderful, that means less writing time. (sighs)

**Reviews**

_anon27_ Sorry, they won't. This is one mechanic I'm not keen on bringing over from The Gamer! It'll be terrifying if people could create dungeons whenever and wherever they wanted to.

_nyeh heh_ Nope, Nana's a Sky. Hmm, your idea has some merit, but it'll probably be an active skill!


	7. Daily Life, Chapter II

**Precious**

Tsuna never told Yamamoto, but a few members of the baseball team had a tendency to take out their anger on him. Not physically, _never_ physically, not when people could see bruises and Hibari could sniff them out like a bloodhound, but they knew that words could hurt just as much as punches. Maybe even more.

It had already been four years and Tsuna still felt hurt by their acidic words. However, he'd never let Yamamoto know. Yamamoto loved baseball and he loved being on the field with his friends; Tsuna couldn't suddenly reveal this to him. There were only two possible scenarios, Yamamoto leaving the baseball team or Yamamoto leaving Hamagure. Both would be painful choices for the cheerful boy and hence Tsuna wouldn't force him to choose.

"There's a big game coming up, so you'd better stay out of Yamamoto's way, Dame-Tsuna." They had this conversation every year; and every year, Tsuna's reply was the same.

"Yamamoto-kun is his own person. He is fully capable of deciding his own actions." Anxiously, Tsuna tightened his grip on the book in his hands. This time he had been ambushed while he was on the way to the school library to return a book he had borrowed. He hoped that he would be able to make it before the break ended. His level nineteen bond with Hibari didn't mean that he could be late for class and get off scott free. If anything, the beating would probably be a few times harder.

Another one of the boys sneer at Tsuna, and something in Tsuna comments that he had never seen this boy's face before. He obviously wasn't one of the usual people who would come to 'threaten' Tsuna.

"Everyone knows that you're just hanging around Yamamoto for popularity," he said. Tsuna's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in shock. It wasn't because he was hurt – no, he had endured worse – but because of the _sheer_ audacity of the boy's words. Did he even know what he was saying? Tsuna had been hanging out with Yamamoto for _four years_ and he was still Dame-Tsuna. If he only wanted popularity, he would've left Yamamoto by now. Judging by the incredulous looks on the faces of the other boys, they obviously thought the same.

"You. I. Wow." Tsuna took a moment to compose himself. "_Wow_. I do _not_ hang out with Yamamoto-kun for popularity! He is my friend, one of my most important people! I don't care if he's popular or not, if he's an ace or a dropout or anything! I like Yamamoto-kun for who he is and not for his achievements! I've been telling you guys for _years_ that Yamamoto-kun is very precious to me, I have no reason to lie!" By the end of his rant, he was breathing hard and clutching the book tightly in his arms as if it could shield him from the other boys. They seemed rather annoyed by his rant. The new boy stepped forward and gripped Tsuna's arm tightly, jerking it up into the air. The book fell to the floor with a thud. The other boys looked a little uncomfortable now.

"Oi, Shou, that's enough. Let him go," one said. The boy – Shou – only rolled his eyes as he stared at Tsuna as if Tsuna was a particularly annoying mosquito he was about to kill. Tsuna couldn't help but try to pull back but the painful grip Shou had on his arm didn't allow him to leave.

"No. It's time that Dame-Tsuna learnt his place." he smirked cruelly and Tsuna flinched back, all but curling into himself as he went on the defensive. He closed his eyes and braced himself. In the background, he could hear the nervous buzz of the other boys trying to get Shou to leave Tsuna alone. However, one voice rang out loud and clear, and Tsuna jerked in surprise.

"_What_ are you doing?" Tsuna's eyes snapped open to see Yamamoto's fingers curled around Shou's wrist, gradually applying pressure until Shou dropped Tsuna's arm and hissed in pain. Yamamoto's eyes were unusually dark, and the sharp expression in them made him think of Reborn when he was being scary and serious. It made Yamamoto look… like a hitman. Tsuna shuddered at the thought.

"Ya-Yamamoto!" Shou seemed shocked and a little scared. Tsuna couldn't blame him.

"I'll only repeat this once. What were you doing, Shou-senpai?" Tsuna could see Yamamoto's grip tighten and immediately intervened.

"Yamamoto-kun, please stop. Shou-san didn't do anything bad to me." Tsuna had to suppress a squeak when Yamamoto turned at same sharp, calculating gaze at him. However, he let go of Shou's hand and the boy quickly took the chance to scramble away.

"Did you mean that, Tsuna?" he asked. Tsuna tilted his head to the side in confusion and Yamamoto clarified. "When you said that you liked me, that I was… precious to you."

"Yeah, I meant it. Why wouldn't I?" At Tsuna's answer, Yamamoto turned his head to the side and covered the bottom of his face with one hand. Tsuna saw that his ears were turning red and took a step forward in concern.

"…Thanks Tsuna. You're precious to me too."

"You feel closer to _Yamamoto Takeshi_. Your _Yamamoto Takeshi_ bond has gained a level! You have chosen the _Romance Route_ answer. _Yamamoto Takeshi_ _Romance Route_ has been activated!"

Tsuna froze awkwardly at the Voice's words, but decided to disregard them. There wasn't any difference in Nagi's behaviour towards him when he 'activated' her 'Romance Route' – and _wow_, did it feel wrong to talk about his friends that way – so he hoped that this 'Romance Route' thing was something that would go away if he ignored it.

Well, even if it didn't, he could always ignore it harder.

* * *

**Fatal Blow**

It was a rather normal day, hanging out with Gokudera after school while waiting for Yamamoto so that the three of them could walk to Kokuyo Land together, and Tsuna and Gokudera were conversing. Talking. Normal stuff. And all of a sudden…

"You feel closer to _Gokudera Hayato._ Your _Gokudera Hayato_ bond has gained a level! Your _Gokudera Hayato_ bond is now level twenty; your companion will now _**take a fatal blow for you**_."

And then the world carried on as if a mysterious Voice hadn't told Tsuna that his friend would _die for him_.

Understandably, Gokudera was alarmed when Tsuna suddenly burst into tears.

* * *

To his distress, Tsuna soon found out that no matter the person, they would, quite literally, die for you once you reached a level twenty bond with them.

* * *

**First Child**

Tsuna knew that Haru had a certain fondness for children. It was a fact that could not be changed. The sky was blue, the grass was green, and Haru loved children. Even Hana had to adapt to it, and miraculously built up a tolerance towards young kids. However…

"Haru." Hana looked torn between her urge to run far, _far_ away and her urge to maintain the general sanity of the group. Hana was a really good friend, Tsuna realised. If he were her, he would've ran for the hills a long time ago.

"Aww! He's so cute!" Kyoko cooed. Haru grinned at her, unconsciously tightening her grip on the struggling boy in her arms.

"I know right! Haru found him wandering about and when I heard that his parents left him in Japan, I just _had_ to take him here!"

"Um." Tsuna decided to speak up when he realised how blue the boy's face was becoming. "Haru-chan, you're suffocating him."

"Hahi!" Haru immediately loosened her grip on the boy and he fell to the floor, gasping for breath. She kneeled down in front of him, tears gathering in her eyes as she apologised profusely. Hana slowly edged towards Tsuna.

"Please tell me that Haru didn't just kidnap a child," Hana whispered. Wisely, Tsuna didn't say anything. Hana groaned and buried her face in her hands.

Then Reborn entered the room and everything went to hell.

* * *

Somehow, Tsuna was the one to bring Lambo home, considering Lambo had some strange attachment to him. Tsuna was sure there was a reason for it, but when Lambo started babbling about pink bazookas and the future, Tsuna's mind automatically shut down. It didn't change the fact, though, that Tsuna was the one who carried Lambo back to his house.

Tsuna wasn't really surprised; he always got pushed into doing things he didn't want to, after all. At least his mum was happy with having someone to spoil.

("You have established a bond with _Lambo Bovino_. Your _Lambo Bovino_ bond is level one!")

* * *

**Power of Love**

Tsuna's cooking skill was reaching level ninety-nine soon. He wondered if it was going to stop there or keep on going. He soon got his answer when he bit into a popsicle and a familiar orange screen popped up in front of him.

[_Cooking_ has gained a level! Congratulations, _Cooking_ is now Level 99! _Cooking_ has been maxed out, _Cooking (Small Heal)_ has been learnt.]

Well, that was interesting. But wait, did it mean that if someone ate the food he cooked, they would recover from their wounds? That was a weird concept; he just hoped that no one would question it.

"_And with that, Sawada Tsunayoshi activated his first healing skill – and just in time too! For…"_

Alright, what the hell was _that_? A narration?

* * *

The less said about his first meeting with Bianchi, the better. To be honest, he didn't remember much; just Gokudera convulsing and then vomiting, lots of pink and purple and horrid acrid smells, an electric bicycle, and love. Something about the power of love.

To be honest, Tsuna soon found out that the less he thought of it, the better it would be. At least he didn't need to suffer through migraines and his subconscious panickingly trying to rebuild mental blocks on suppressed memories.

* * *

The second time he met Bianchi, things were a lot tamer. Of course, it did help that Reborn there as well and took the brunt of Bianchi's attention. When Bianchi turned her eyes to him, however, fifteen pop-ups notified him of a dangerous threat that was coming, and another ten informed him of massive killing intent that was directed at him. He tried his best to keep the bland, neutral look on his face as Bianchi set down a plate of… something in front of him.

"To apologise for before," she said sweetly. It was the type of sweet that Tsuna associated with dangerous chemicals that could kill you in an instant. He tried to shove down the little whispers of the time he spent in Italy, and how he should_ run, run before you die—_!

Tsuna stared at the plate for a while. He knew that he had at least two buffs: Optimum Sleep and Mother's Lunch, which would reduce his damage by about forty-six percent. Which was good, because that meant he'd only be fifty-four percent dead instead of, well, a hundred percent dead.

Silently cursing Reborn and his tendency to attract strange people – not that Tsuna was one to talk – he took a bite out of Bianchi's… 'cooking'. What happened next was sheer _dumb_ luck and Tsuna would never again gripe about the game mechanics for as long as he lived. Okay, maybe he'd stop for about two weeks or so, but _still_.

An orange window flickered in front of him, bearing the words: [_Resist Poison_ has been activated!] It was followed by around fifty to sixty pop-ups talking about how his _Resist Poison_ skill had gained a level – fifty to sixty, to be accurate, but who's counting – and _wow_. He wasn't dead. Both Bianchi and Reborn were staring at him with something akin to shock and extreme confusion.

"B-but how?" Bianchi managed to ask. Tsuna thought about a suitable way to explain it and make it believable, but he decided that annoying Reborn was much more important.

"Why, the power of love of course!" Tsuna said with absolute sarcasm. He probably shouldn't have done so, however, because Bianchi believed every word he said.

"Finally!" she breathed, eyes sparkling as she held Tsuna's hands tightly in her own. "Someone who _understands_!"

"Um," Tsuna replied eloquently, ignoring the Voice yelling about new bonds and whatnot. Even though he couldn't see Reborn, he _knew _the little devil was laughing. Before he could tell Bianchi that he was joking, however, she bustled out of the room in order to create a '_grand feast fit for the start of a beautiful friendship_' and Tsuna had to quickly intervene. Surprisingly, the food they made together turned out somewhat edible. Apparently, his _Cooking (Small Heal)_ skill had managed to cancel out Bianchi's poison cooking ability.

_Not by much, though_, Tsuna mused as he saw Ryohei and Yamamoto run to the toilet to throw up after eating one of the more dubious looking dishes, _but at least no one was dying._

* * *

He never did clear up that misunderstanding.

* * *

**Featherman**

"Dame-Tsuna, wake up," an unfamiliar voice said. Its tone was familiar, though, and Tsuna automatically opened his eyes out of pure self-preservation alone. He saw a familiar, yet foreign, face looking down at him with a smirk. Slowly, Tsuna took in obsidian eyes, a black fedora, and curly sideburns. Somewhat hesitant, and a little bit terrified, he became aware that the man was literally above him, with his hands on either side of Tsuna's head and a knee in between Tsuna's legs.

Very, _very_ reluctantly, Tsuna slowly dragged his eyes up to the space above the man's head.

[Reborn, Level 350]

"Hieeee!"

* * *

Tsuna's eyes snapped open and he was relieved to see the darkened ceiling of his bedroom. Reborn was on the other side of the room, still in his hammock, and still a baby. Tsuna couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Wow, that dream was uncomfortable on _so_ many levels. But now that it was in his head… it was strange that Reborn was just a baby. Tsuna knew the world was weird, especially to him, but it definitely couldn't be _that_ weird. Hopefully.

But that meant that Reborn used to be an adult. That was now a child. It wasn't too weird of a concept to wrap his head around, it actually made more sense than some of the other things that happened in Tsuna's life.

So that meant that Reborn was cursed to be in the form of a baby. What kind of curse was that? And just _who_ cursed him? There was a niggling feeling at the back of his head as he tried to fix a puzzle that he only had a few pieces of. Suddenly, a face flashed in Tsuna's mind and he paused. He remembered who that person was, even though he had only seen him once.

_[Kawahira/Checker Face, Level 9000+]_

Was his brain trying to tell him that the shopkeeper had something to do with Reborn's curse?

[_Hyper Intuition_ has gained a level!]

Tsuna took that as a yes. However, this information didn't help him all that much. Usually, in video games, the players had to defeat the person who cast the curse in order to break the curse. If that was the case, then Tsuna needed to defeat the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper with a level that was _over nine thousand_. God, that was _impossible_! Even Daemon, who had been on this earth for over four hundred years, was nowhere near the shopkeeper's level.

But…

But Reborn was his tutor and, if Tsuna was brave enough, some sort of friend. Sure, Reborn dragged him into many things that Tsuna was reluctant to do, but he had come out stronger because of it. He became more _useful_ because of it. Tsuna honestly liked Reborn, was grateful to him, and saw him as someone important, who gave him the opportunity to protect the people precious to him. And Tsuna would like to think that Reborn kind of liked him too, if only a little.

Tsuna decided then and there that he would try to break the curse Reborn had on him, even if he had to fight an overpowered shopkeeper to do so.

But first, he had to get stronger. While he wasn't against risking his life in a gamble to protect those he loved, it didn't mean that he wanted to get himself killed. What was that quote from the television program he used to watch again? Ah yes, "Death must not be needlessly feared. But it must not be needlessly desired as well." That pretty much summed up his feelings of the situation, although he was still pretty terrified of death and…

"You have established a bond with _Reborn_. Your _Reborn_ bond is now level one!"

And just _how_ did he establish a bond with a sleeping person?!

* * *

**Party Member**

When Gokudera levelled up to level thirty, Tsuna finally got the notice that Gokudera had joined his party. Puzzled, he wondered why Gokudera had been unable to join his party before. Perhaps it was due to the massive level gap? It made sense, but Hibari's level had been _way_ higher than his when Hibari joined the party.

Maybe… Hibari was so frightening that even the mysterious game mechanisms were afraid of him!

… Yeah, that was a weird thought. Oh well, this was a mystery Tsuna would never solve. And he didn't want to either.

Some stones were just better left unturned.

* * *

**Disguise**

When Tsuna cut in between Bianchi and some sleazy-looking guy in a white coat that was hitting on her, it wasn't to protect Bianchi. Okay, maybe it was, but it was to protect Bianchi from the police instead of the man. Tsuna really didn't want a murder to take place in front of his house.

Then the man groped him, thinking he was a girl, and suddenly Tsuna didn't mind a bit of murder in the morning.

* * *

"But how did Shamal-san mistake me for a girl? I'm sure I don't look even the slightest bit feminine!" Tsuna ranted. Daemon snickered from a corner of the room but quickly donned a neutral face when Tsuna turned around to glare at him.

"And you!" Tsuna began. Daemon managed to phase away before he got hit in the face with a flame covered fist.

* * *

The worst thing about ideas was that once it took root in your head, you couldn't get rid of it. Tsuna agonized over his thoughts for a full two and a half days before he caved and went to ask Kyoko for help. And what were his thoughts?

How he'd look like if he wore stereotypically feminine clothes.

* * *

"Wow," Tsuna said, a bit uncomfortable as he looked in the mirror. "I look… nice." Orange really was his colour. Kyoko was only a little shorter than him, so her clothes fit him just fine, which were why he was at her house. Haru did his makeup eagerly, although she didn't put on much. Something about powders being bad for the skin and whatnot, so she only used non-powder makeup. Not that Tsuna could tell the difference, considering his ignorance towards such matters. It was interesting, though. Maybe he could…

No, _no_. He didn't have time to create and grind a new skill, not if he wanted to focus on his academics.

[Active skill: _Disguise_ has been created!]

Oh, of _course_ that meant a new skill _must_ be created. Ah well, who cared about grinding skills anyway?

And then, because the universe hated him so much, the door opened and Ryohei popped his head in. And stared. And squinted. "Huh," he commented. "You look familiar."

"Like Tsuna-kun, right, onii-san?" Kyoko, the Traitor, said. Haru giggled at his expense. He knew that if Ryohei wasn't there, she'd be letting out full blown laughter.

Ryohei was frowning as he stared at Tsuna, eyes still narrowed. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke.

"Tsuna's still cuter."

And then he left.

Tsuna didn't know what to think.

* * *

_Continue? _

_(Yes) (No) _

* * *

_Load Add-on Content? _

_[(Yes)] (No)_

_Loading Outtake001_

* * *

Iemitsu knew he was a good leader, a great employee, and a pretty respectable CEDEF head.

However, he also knew that he was a shit husband, and an even shittier father.

He wanted to be better though, but he couldn't. Or at least, that's what he told himself. There was just no possible way to interact with his family without drawing suspicion to them, and the last thing he wanted was his precious wife and son to die just because he couldn't contain his desire to see them. He'd rather them hate him and be alive than be dead.

There was no possible way to interact with his family as _Iemitsu_ without drawing suspicion to them.

* * *

Tsuna's only male babysitter was really weird. He had black hair and brown eyes, but Tsuna kept thinking that the man's hair was supposed to be blond. He cried a lot, too, and kept calling him 'Tsu-kun' like his mum did.

For some reason, it didn't bother him as much as when other people called him that.

* * *

Nana wasn't stupid. She knew that her husband, _her_ Iemitsu was involved in some really sketchy things and that was why he was gone so often. She couldn't help but feel a bit bitter. Then again, Iemitsu had his job long before he met Nana that fateful day at the restaurant, but he _chose_ to be with her. Shouldn't that count for something?

Someone thrusts a bouquet of flowers at her and she glances up, startled, to see a brown haired man wearing a hat that overshadowed most of his face.

"Beautiful flowers for a beautiful lady," he said quickly, and ran off before Nana could catch a good look at his face. She didn't have to, though. She might not have the scarily good intuition that her son did, but she was pretty good at figuring things out.

Smiling, she glanced down at the flowers in her hands. Lavenders and yellow camellias. Faithfulness and longing. Nana had taught Iemitsu the meaning of flowers once, a long time ago before they got married, when they were still in the early stages of dating.

It was nice to see that he hadn't forgotten what she had said.

* * *

Tsuna felt like he was going insane. Sure, he was just five years old, but even he could differentiate between faces and people with different faces had been stopping by the house almost every day! They had different faces, even different genders and ages, but he kept thinking that they were the same person!

What was wrong with him?!

His mother seemed calm and accepting enough, so perhaps he should be the same. Still…

He really wanted to know why he kept associating those strangers with the image of a tall man with blond hair and brown eyes though.

* * *

Iemitsu wanted to keep his family safe, so he couldn't visit them as Iemitsu. However, it didn't mean that he couldn't visit them disguised as other people.

And then there was the Cradle Affair and suddenly Iemitsu couldn't visit them at all.

* * *

**Author's note**

Hey, I don't like Iemitsu but I don't dislike him either. He reminds me of my dad, tbh. And Tsuna's like my younger brother, resentment towards father, cuteness, and all. Although I might be biased considering people keep telling me I have a brother complex. Eh. Btw, the cradle incident happened when Tsuna was six, according to the wiki and my mathematics skills. I'm good at math. It's also late at night. I'm on a

Anyway, you know how certain skills only get activated due to chance? Like 2% chance of happening an' stuff? Yeah, that's what happened to Tsuna with the poison. World's luckiest person, probably. I'm pretty lucky with video games in that sort of manner.

The quote: _"Death must not be needlessly feared. But it must not needlessly be desired as well. Face it and fight, Featherman!"_ is from Phoenix Ranger Featherman R. A fictional show in a game called Persona. I like Persona, but I don't have a playstation. You can see many things in this story influenced by Persona. I am very tired. Why is this chapter so short.

**Reviews**

_Guests I'm sorry I don't know who's who I'm sorry _– thank you so much for reviewing! Hana will work with Hayato for a while in right hand man training or something, but she won't be the right hand man. She has 'much better things to do than to help Tsuna run this monkey show'. She wants to be a lawyer. Also, Tsuna has been hit by vehicles approximately three times.

_meh _– I think Nagi grows catnip around Kokuyo Land in hopes of attracting more cats. And the Vindice will be dealt with, somehow. Probably anticlimactically. Tsuna and co.'s way too underlevelled to fight them.


	8. Daily Life, Chapter III

**Dream**

Tsuna glared at Daemon. Daemon resolutely looked at anywhere but Tsuna. Reborn stared at the both of them with an unreadable expression on his face. An unfamiliar blond with orange eyes popped into the room.

"Is this a bad time?" Giotto asked. Reborn turned the stare onto him and Giotto nodded to himself. "Bad time," he said and went back out of the room.

"Tsunayoshi," Daemon began. "I found something interesting when I was in Italy."

"Don't. Start." Tsuna wanted to will the spirit out of existence. He quickly stole a glance at Reborn and was startled to see an adult with a black fedora and suit sitting in his place. In fact, he was so startled, he jerked back and fell to the ground—

And woke up on the floor beside his bed. He groaned and placed an arm over his eyes. He had been having really strange dreams lately. He desperately hoped that it wasn't a new kind of skill. When he removed his arm, he saw that Daemon was leaning over him, a rather amused expression on his face.

"Primo Jr.," he said, almost echoing the words his dreamself had spoken. "I found something interesting when I was in Italy."

Tsuna's scream was loud enough to wake the whole neighbourhood.

* * *

**Romantic Bonding** _(Not actually romantic, it's in reference to another thing)_

It was probably weird, but Tsuna actually was able to spend non-violent time with Reborn. It just happened one day when he climbed into his room through the window as he was trying to escape from a pack of dogs and saw Reborn quickly put a book away. They spent a good five minutes staring at each other before Reborn caved in and showed Tsuna what the book was.

It was a romantic comedy.

Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried it was some kind of secret Spartan tutor handbook on how to further increase the torture on students. After that, the topic was dropped and they never really talked about it again, until Tsuna was in a bookstore and caught sight of a new romantic comedy that had just come out. On a whim, he decided to buy it and leave it on the desk in his room.

It disappeared for a few days and then magically reappeared back on the desk. Tsuna didn't really understand why Reborn didn't want anyone to know why he read those books, but he figured he shouldn't dig into it. Maybe it was against Mafia rules? At that thought, Tsuna paused. Oh man, if it was really against Mafia rules to read romantic comedies, Haru would be so annoyed. She loved romantic stories of any kind and to cut off one part of her supply would make her angry.

_Well_, Tsuna thought to himself. _If they want to drag me into the Mafia, that rule won't be a problem for long._

And so this unspoken thing continued. Tsuna would regularly purchase romantic comedies, sometimes borrowing from Haru if she had an especially good book the store didn't have, and leave it on the table for Reborn to read. They didn't talk about it, and their friends believed that Tsuna had suddenly developed an interest in reading, rather than Reborn having an interest in romantic comedies. Tsuna never looked at the content of those books, and Reborn never said anything about it.

Then one day Tsuna, in a fit of boredom and curiosity, decided to try reading one of those books.

It was okay, Tsuna guessed. A little mushy and reminded him a lot of his mother and father's relationship, but overall a nice read. Not really his type of book but he could understand why Reborn and Haru liked them. Still, there were a lot of things he didn't quite understand about the story, especially in the relationship between the main characters and other people. Perhaps Reborn would be able to give him some insight?

It turned out that asking Reborn those questions over dinner was a bad idea.

* * *

Tsuna decided to breach the topic again a week later, when things were a lot quieter and it was only Reborn and him in the house. A short, stilted explanation on Reborn's part soon turned into a discussion-debate between the both of them about the book. It ended up with a level up of Reborn's bond.

It was fun, Tsuna thought. They should probably do it again.

Tsuna didn't exactly love to read romantic comedies, but he didn't mind them either. However, he was beginning to gain an appreciation for them because they were the thing that allowed Tsuna to start an informal companionship with Reborn.

* * *

**Galge? **

Tsuna liked to think that he was rather close to his friends. That, he believed, was why he was able to realise that Nagi was upset at just a glance. Seeing that she was going through great lengths to hide it, Tsuna figured that he would ask her about it when they were alone. After all, if he was upset one, he wouldn't want an audience for his inevitable breakdown.

When Tsuna found out why Nagi was upset, he was confused. And a little scared.

"I have some, um, penpals. They're my friends. But they've been thrown into jail…"

How in the world did Nagi come to know of criminals? Or maybe they were actually good people, good people that did… bad things…

Yeah, Tsuna was fooling nobody. Still, he was able to smile comfortingly at Nagi. "If your friends ever come out of jail, we'll do our best to help them! I mean, if they want help…"

Nagi smiled at Tsuna.

"Your feelings were able to reach your companion. You feel closer to Yoinara Nagi/Dokuro Chrome. Your Yoinara Nagi/Dokuro Chrome bond has gained a level!"

There was a pause as Tsuna felt something within him shift. Was it just him, or did everything get a little… warmer? Not in temperature, but the colours seemed to have shifted to a warmer hue and there was a strange tint to everything. A strange pink and orange tint. He found that he couldn't look away from Nagi's slightly smiling image as Nagi walked closer to Tsuna, until she was on the edge of breaching his personal space. As in, literally couldn't look away. There seemed to be a mysterious force holding him in place, similar to when he opened up the menu.

Nagi seemed to be looking up at him, as if she was expecting something considering that fact that she hadn't moved an inch while Tsuna was internally panicking. It was then he realised that time had stopped. He blinked and rectangular orange boxes with a light pink outline flickered into existence in front of him. He read the things on the box, dread filling him with every word he took in.

[Kiss her forehead]

[Kiss her cheek]

[Hold her hand]

[Ruffle her hair]

Tsuna immediately chose the last option, the least awkward option in his opinion, and the boxes faded away. His saw, more than felt, his hand move up and run through Nagi's soft, indigo hair. This… was weird. He tried to prevent himself from hyperventilating in the newfound knowledge and terror that something was able to control his movements, and managed to succeed by a marginal amount.

A blush seemed to have settled on Nagi's face as she stared at her feet and fidgeted with her hands. "A-ah, it's been a long time since someone ruffled my hair. My father used to do it before he…" she trailed off but quickly shook her head to rid herself of upsetting thoughts. "But it feels different when you do it. I wonder why…" She smiled bashfully and Tsuna smiled back with his eyes closed to cover up his awkward horror.

"You have chosen the right option!" the Voice said.

_I have chosen the wrong option_, Tsuna thought instead.

He had to be _way_ more careful from now onwards.

* * *

**Compassion**

"Tsuna, let's bake!" Bianchi said cheerfully, holding up plans for a three-tier wedding cake. Tsuna stared at it for a while, in total utter silence, before smiling awkwardly and giving her a recipe for simple blueberry cookies.

"Let's start small. I'm still a beginner at this," he replied. Bianchi looked a bit disappointed but agreed, and Tsuna gave a silent sigh of relief. His _Cooking (Small Heal)_ skill wasn't a high enough level to attempt to neutralise the poison in such a complicated recipe yet.

The next two hours of Tsuna's life was spent quickly activating his _Cooking (Small Heal)_ skill on Bianchi's cooking. He learnt that the best way to neutralise the poison would be to treat it right away. If he left it for too long, the poison would somehow increase in potency and he would then be unable to salvage it. It was lucky that Bianchi was generally a good cook; he didn't think he had time to supervise the cooking _and_ neutralise the poison at the same time.

Spending time with Bianchi also enabled him to level up his _Cooking (Small Heal)_ skill. By a great deal. It had only been a while, but it was now level fifty-nine! Skill levelling, bond levelling, and nice food. Tsuna really didn't mind spending time with Bianchi. She was also rather nice to talk to, if one could manage to get her away from the topic of Reborn. Well, it would be better if one could get her away from the topic of _romance_, but you couldn't win at everything in life.

"Oh, a new issue of the magazine Hayato likes is out," Bianchi commented. Tsuna hummed and she continued. "'The Wonders and Mysteries of the World'. Have you heard of it, Tsuna?"

"Can't say I have," Tsuna admitted. "I'm not really one to read."

"Ah, I see. I was thinking of getting Hayato a copy, considering that he's having problems with rent, but I'm not sure if he'll accept anything from me. Maybe if the both of us buy it together?"

"Gokudera-kun has problems with rent?!" Tsuna yelped. Bianchi nodded slowly. Tsuna seemed distressed. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"He didn't feel that it was important." Judging from Bianchi's tone, she didn't feel like it was important either. Tsuna opened his mouth, about to argue, but was cut off by Bianchi. "Hayato doesn't need anyone's charity. I know that you're trying to help, but you'll just make him feel like he's unable to provide for himself." That stopped Tsuna in his tracks. He never really thought about things that way before.

[Your Compassion has increased. Compassion has gained a level!]

And what the absolute hell is _that_?

* * *

**Courage**

"Stupid gaming systems," Tsuna muttered to himself. "Stupid gaming systems and their stupid system updates and stupid confusing rip-off additions." He bumped into someone and winced, taking a few steps back. "I'm sorry," he said automatically, trying to regain his balance.

"It's no problem," the other person replied. Tsuna, eyes still on the ground, noticed that they were carrying many items. He thought about offering his help and, almost immediately, a pop-up appeared in front of him.

[You do not have enough Courage to attempt this.]

Tsuna almost rolled his eyes. That was bullshit; now he was _definitely_ going to do it, just to spite the game mechanics. "Why don't I help you with that? It looks heavy and surely two pairs of hands are better than one."

"Really? Thank you. You're a kind boy." Tsuna looked up, about to smile at the person and say something else, but frozen upon seeing the person's face. He knew who this person was.

_[Kawahira/Checker Face, Level 9000+]_

The game was right. Tsuna really didn't have enough Courage to attempt this.

* * *

"Thank you for helping me carry those items back to my shop!" Kawahira told Tsuna with a smile. Tsuna timidly smiled back, one step away from bolting out of the door. Kawahira didn't seem to notice. "Why don't you stay for some tea? I insist."

Tsuna laughed nervously, unable to decline, and sat himself down in the chair Kawahira pulled out for him. There was a brief moment of silence as Kawahira smiled at Tsuna and Tsuna pretended that he was incredibly engaged with drinking tea, before Kawahira broke it.

"I recognise you," he commented. "You came into this shop before, right?"

"H-how did you know?" Tsuna did _not_ squeak. Kawahira chuckled.

"Not many people walk into an antique shop, so I tend to remember my customers." There was a strange infliction to his words, as if Kawahira was enjoying an inside joke. Tsuna continued staring at his cup of tea, as if it had all the secrets to life. Actually, with the way his life had been unfolding, he wouldn't be surprised if the secret to existence literally _did_ exist in a cup of tea. Kawahira gave another chuckle when he didn't receive an answer from Tsuna. There was another brief period of silence, where Kawahira seemed to be sizing Tsuna up for something. The moment passed and Kawahira spoke again.

"Well, I seem to have kept you long enough." Oh god _finally_. "I'm sure your tutor will be wondering where you went. Until next time." At Kawahira's dismissal, Tsuna couldn't run out of the shop fast enough.

* * *

**Addition **

In Tsuna's experience, good days normally started out with a giant explosion.

That was sarcasm, by the way.

Still, the fact remained that there was a giant explosion not too far – incredibly close, actually – from where Tsuna was sitting. It was all rather comical how literally _no one_ was bothered by it. There was even a smoke cloud and nobody was even the slightest bit curious! At first, Tsuna believed that he should firmly ignore the explosion just like everyone else, but then he caught sight of Hibari walking out of it.

The scene was something out of a movie, Tsuna had to admit. Smoke cloud in the distance, wind blowing from the side, Hibari striding out of the smoke cloud with long, assured steps with the wind adding a layer of drama to the entire picture. Tsuna wanted to laugh, but he valued his life.

Tsuna waited until Hibari was gone before walking towards the site of the explosion to investigate what was going on. What he saw was not what he expected.

"Haru's going to love this," he sighed as he bent down to cradle the unconscious child he found lying in a crater. He took the time to shoot a silent apology to Hana before he started to make his way to Haru's house.

* * *

The child's name was I-Pin, and she was female. She was also Chinese, so Tsuna had absolutely no idea what she was saying.

Who knew that Haru knew how to speak Chinese? Tsuna certainly didn't.

"She said that she doesn't have any parents!" Haru gasped. Tsuna's eyes widened.

"Then how in the world did she get to Japan?" First Lambo, now I-Pin. Tsuna was a bit worried about the security of Japan's customs. Or maybe it was just Namimori in general that made Tsuna worried. At least they had Hibari and the Disciplinary Committee.

"She's… an assassin. A _child_ assassin. She was sent here to kill someone, oh my _god_," Haru sounded as horrified as Tsuna felt. "We can't let this continue! We need to find her a home and a nurturing family that would _not_ have her kill people!"

"But, where can we find such a family?" Just who was able to accept a foreigner they barely knew and care for them like their own, or even have the time to take care of a kid? When Haru didn't answer Tsuna, he turned to look at her, and unconsciously took a step back. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

* * *

"Gyoza, huh? I'll have to look into that." Since I-Pin was now part of the Sawada household, the normal thing to do would be to cook her favourite food as part of the welcome dinner. That's what his mother and he did with Reborn, Lambo, and Bianchi after all. And speaking of Lambo, Tsuna was rather happy to see that he and I-Pin were getting along well.

Now the question he had was: how many rooms did his house actually have and why hadn't he noticed the extra rooms before?

* * *

**Item Respawn**

Tsuna's hatred for the game mechanics grew stronger every day. Okay, maybe that was an overstatement, but the idea was there.

"How the hell is that stupid potted plant still in the middle of the damned road?!"

Tsuna wanted to kick that potted plant out of the way, but it had been something that Hana had brought over to Kokuyo Land in order to brighten the place up and he didn't want to damage it. He was reaching his patience threshold, though.

With deliberate and exaggerated actions, Tsuna stalked over to the potted plant and picked it up. He then turned ninety degrees clockwise and walked a distance away from the middle of the road. When he reached a wall, he set the potted plant down and slowly made his way back to the room he came from whilst occasionally turning back to see if the potted plant was still by the wall. It was. With one final glance, he went back into the room to pick up the large box of miscellaneous items he was moving.

He exited the room again, took one look at the road, and dropped the box.

"WHY IS IT STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD?!"

* * *

**Athletic Festival**

Tsuna hated sports. Any sports of any kind were horrible and Tsuna wanted absolutely no part in them. Therefore, in Tsuna's strictly professional opinion, the athletic festival was a horrible thing that should be abolished forever.

"We have to win the sports festival!" Ryohei yelled passionately. He had been appointed the representative of Team A, and hence was going through 'tactics' with the team. Tsuna wished that he could sink into the floor and become one with the shadows. He didn't want to take part in anything.

Somehow, he didn't think that it would be possible this year.

As usual, Tsuna snuck a glance at Kyoko to see her reaction to the entire situation. Eyes shining, a light pink blush on her cheeks, fists clenched, and a slight furrow on her brow. Yeap, she was excited. Tsuna felt his desire to disappear grow even more. He knew that if Kyoko were to ask him to take part, he couldn't refuse.

So that meant he must never give Kyoko the chance to ask anything of him.

"It has been a tradition that the team's representative is the leader of the pole-knocking competition," Ryohei said seriously. For some reason, a foreboding feeling made its way into Tsuna's chest. "But I resign! I want to battle as a soldier this year!" The feeling was getting stronger. Tsuna really hoped that this would not go the way he thought it would go.

He started edging away from Ryohei's line of sight.

"Don't worry," Ryohei reassured the members of Team A. Tsuna did not feel the least bit reassured. "I know someone else who is more suited to the position of leader than I am."

Two pop-ups blinked into existence in front of Tsuna. They were from his Sense Danger skill.

"Tsuna from Class 1-A Shall take my place!"

Tsuna immediately stood up. "No."

"But Tsuna," Ryohei tried to reason.

"No." Tsuna's mind was made up.

"Tsuna-kun?" He heard Kyoko's voice and resolutely refused to look at her.

"I think either Kyoko-chan or Hana-chan will be better than me in the position of leader. They are terrifying, strong, magnificent warriors that will proudly showcase the… _extreme_ fighting spirit of Team A." How Tsuna said this with a straight face, he didn't know. Maybe it was because the sentence was true. He knew the girls were totally and utterly capable of taking care of themselves. Even if their enemies were the entire school body, they would probably still win. If Haru and Chrome were in the team as well, Team A would be unstoppable. Too bad they didn't go to Namimori Middle.

"Tsuna?"

"But Tsuna-kun…!"

"Don't you _dare_ drag me into this."

"Jyuudaime! I think you're the best choice! You're our leader after all!"

"Yeah, Tsuna. This would be a great way to showcase your talents."

Tsuna didn't even hesitate. He walked over to the window and slid it open. "No," he said, with a note of finality, and jumped out of the window.

There was absolutely _no way_ he was going to lead the pole-knocking competition. Even the game mechanics agreed with him via the Sense Danger skill.

Now, how was he going to explain this to Reborn?

* * *

Hana ended up being the leader of Team A. She was very upset about it, and she went to great lengths to let Tsuna know about it. However, Tsuna could tell that she was excited for it. He could see it from the scary gleam in her eyes, and the way she seemed to size up the leaders of Team B and C whenever they crossed paths. She didn't even bother to react when they scoffed at her!

That was how scary her resolve was.

As for Tsuna… Well, he sprained his ankle after jumping out of the window and was hence unable to take part in any item in the sports festival.

He was very, _very_ happy about it. Hana? Not so much.

"Ugh, now I can't even sign you up for other races!" she complained. Tsuna tried not to smile as he made sure to keep an innocent expression frozen on his face. Hana was not fooled in the slightest. "You should sleep with one eye open, Tsuna," she warned dramatically. "I will have my revenge."

Tsuna just laughed.

* * *

Everything was floating. This was weird. Why was Tsuna floating as well? As far as he remembered, gravity was still a thing that existed on earth.

A kid with a scarf and blank, faraway eyes stood a small distance away, muttering something under his breath. Suddenly, gravity reasserted itself once again and Tsuna fell onto the ground with a harsh 'thump'.

The boy took out a large book from the hammerspace within his jacket and placed it onto the floor. "Tsuna-nii has improved again. I'm so happy," the boy mused to himself. Tsuna felt his eye twitch. 'Tsuna-nii'? Was that him? That couldn't be; he had never seen this boy before in his life.

The boy looked up at his book and paused when he saw Tsuna looking at him. "Ah," the boy exclaimed.

"Um," Tsuna replied. There was a short moment of silence before…

"Tsuna-nii!" The boy threw himself at Tsuna. Tsuna hissed in pain when that put pressure on his sprained ankle and the boy quickly backed off. "We finally meet! I didn't really want to bother you, because the athletic festival is going on, but we still met anyway! Can I keep calling you Tsuna-nii?"

"… yeah sure. Why not." Tsuna was still in a daze of shock. "Wait," he said, slowly coming to his senses. "Who are you?" A pause, and because manners were important, "I mean, may I know your name?"

"Oh, I'm Fuuta! It's nice to meet you, Tsuna-nii!" The boy beamed up at him. Tsuna reflexively smiled back. The smile dropped, however, when he caught sight of a group of suited men in the distance. When one of them caught sight of Tsuna and Fuuta, he pointed at them and seemed to say something to the others.

Six pop-ups appeared, telling him that his Sense Danger skill had been activated.

He knew where they came from. How could he not?

He took a step back, already glancing around for a possible escape route. Just then, he felt Fuuta stiffen beside him. "Fuuta?" he blinked, and looked down at the brown haired boy. He was clutching at himself and staring at the group of suited men. The group of Mafia men.

"I'm… sorry, Tsuna-nii. I have to go," he said hurriedly. Tsuna quickly put an arm around him to prevent him from leaving.

"What's wrong, Fuuta? Are they after you?" The situation was piecing itself together in Tsuna's mind, and he did not like the picture that it was forming.

Fuuta nodded and Tsuna clenched his fists in frustration. It was happening again, the Mafia was going after children who couldn't defend themselves. How could they?

"It's alright Tsuna-nii. I'm used to it. You don't have to worry about me; I can run away really fast!" Fuuta tried to comfort Tsuna. It was at that moment that Tsuna realised that he couldn't let Fuuta get hurt.

His resolve sharpened, and the world seemed to shift. Everything became much clearer to him, and he was so aware of his surroundings that it was almost terrifying.

He kept his calm.

He didn't forget about his sprained ankle. However, it didn't seem important to him at that moment.

He was not afraid.

"Don't worry, Fuuta. I'll protect you."

"Ts-Tsuna-nii?" Fuuta stuttered out. He seemed a little awed. Before he could say anything more, however, he was interrupted by one of the suited men. They had finally reached the two children.

"Hand over the child," one of the men said. Tsuna stared at him dispassionately as he tugged on the gloves Haru and Shouichi made for him. Almost immediately, they burst into brilliant, bright orange flames. The suited men collectively took a step back.

"And if I said no?" Tsuna tilted his head to the side, the epitome of calm. The same suited man who talked – Tsuna labelled him as the leader – regained his composure and narrowed his eyes.

"Then we'll take him from you by force!" He lunged forward but Tsuna was faster. In a flash of orange, Tsuna stepped right behind him and delivered a swift chop to the side of his neck. Almost immediately, his eyes rolled up and he fell to the ground in a dead faint. There was absolutely no movement as everyone stared at the scene of Tsuna gazing emotionlessly at the motionless body on the floor. Almost as if it was in slow motion, Tsuna turned his head to look at the rest of the men.

"I do not wish to hurt you," he told them. "Please, leave." This jolted them into action.

"He can't take all of us at once!" one of the man roared. "Let's rush him."

It was that day that Tsuna found out he was pretty good at ending fights quickly.

* * *

Tsuna stood among the prone bodies of unconscious, suited men. Fuuta stared up at him with admiration.

"Tsuna-nii… You're so cool!" he gushed. Tsuna blinked in surprised and tilted his head to the side.

"Cool? You flatter me, Fuuta," he smiled serenely. He stepped out of the mess of bodies and towards Fuuta. "Why not I bring you to meet my friends?" When Fuuta nodded, Tsuna turned to look at the trees nearby. "Would you like to come along as well, Reborn?" Tsuna continued to look at the trees until Reborn revealed himself, looking a bit disgruntled at being called out so easily.

"You didn't tell me that you knew about Hyper Dying Will Mode," Reborn stated, displeasure colouring his tone. Tsuna frowned.

"Hyper… Dying Will Mode?" The flame on his forehead extinguished. "What's thaaaaaaa— ouch ouch ouch ouch my ankle…!" Tsuna keened and fell onto the floor, clutching his ankle as he moaned in agony.

"…"

"…"

Reborn and Fuuta stared at Tsuna's pathetic figure on the floor. Reborn looked away, tugging his fedora down to cast a shade over his eyes. "Never mind," he muttered under his breath.

* * *

_Continue? _

_(Yes) (No)_

* * *

**Author's note**

Team A won by a landslide, if you wanted to know. Hana is dangerous when provoked.

When I wrote Tsuna hitting pressure points, I always like to imagine him having to jump to hit it because he's so short.

Lemme tell you, Kawahira is a troll and Reborn was panicking because he lost sight of where Tsuna was. Also, Tsuna is careless and didn't notice that Kawahira wasn't supposed to know who he was, much less if he had a tutor or not. So yea, in case you missed it.

There's an outtake about Daemon judging Tsuna's chosen guardians that I uploaded a few days ago on my tumblr. Just putting it out there. Again, levels and bonds are on there too.

Guess who managed to get their hands on Persona 4?

After this I'm going to eat ice pops until I throw up or until I run out.

**Reviews**

_arojam pro_ ahahaha... i'm sorry... but at least it's out now? Oh, Mukuro won't be coming anytime soon... probably. unless he has popular demand, I don't think I'll add him soon. I'm not planning anything showy with the vindice. It'll be as anti-climatic as the ending to the rainbow representative battles, probably.

_Guest 17/2_ haha, thanks! There's probably going to be a(n unwanted) harem ending and Tsuna's tears, as far as the romantic side of things is concerned.

_qqsha_ I don't really think Bianchi will jump bonds. She isn't as naive as her brother, after all. Tsuna forever virgin 2k15. There's nothing wrong with that, and i doubt he's interesting in those things anyway, with all the chaos in his life.

_erin_ Yeap. that's true. And I loved the way you put it, _'Yeah, the guy you've been after for years is actually the weirdo who runs an antique shop two blocks down.'_ That's a pretty anticlimatic reveal aha.


	9. Daily Life, Chapter IV

**I talked about Mukuro in the last chapter. I lied. **

**ALSO, HE DID NOT kill Lancia's family. It will be explained in a later chapter, probably. But it's basically a butterfly effect from when Tsuna met them in Italy.**

* * *

**Meeting the Guardian**

"Reborn, Gokudera-kun. There's someone I would like you to meet." Tsuna fidgeted nervously as he stood in front of his friend and tutor. Gokudera looked a little confused with the whole situation, while Reborn's face was as blank as always.

"I mean, I would have told you guys about him sooner, but he wasn't here for a while and it'll be hard to believe without him actually being here. I mean, I have trouble believing it myself, but it's real. And then when he came back, I couldn't exactly find the right time to break it to you guys…" Tsuna babbled. Gokudera listened attentively while Reborn had to resist the urge to bury his face in his hands.

"Spit it out, Tsuna."

Tsuna's mouth shut with an audible 'click' of his teeth and took a few seconds to calm down. "Okay, alright. Reborn, Gokudera-kun, I would like you to meet my… friend, Daemon."

There was a burst of indigo flames beside Tsuna as Daemon materialised. He smirked and gave a fancy bow. "It's nice to meet you. I am Daemon Spade."

There was total silence before…

"Okay," Gokudera said faintly, before his entire body tipped backwards and he fell to the ground, motionless. Tsuna winced. That wasn't a very positive reaction. Hesitantly, he turned to look at Reborn. His fedora was casting a shadow over the top half of his face, making it near impossible to read his expression. Not a positive reaction either.

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn began and looked up at Tsuna. His sharp gaze pinned Tsuna to the spot, making him unable to move. "Just _how_ did you come to know of Vongola Primo's most bloodthirsty guardian?"

Tsuna laughed nervously. "It's a long story… I'd rather not say." He immediately looked away, breaking Reborn's gaze. Reborn made a sound of displeasure and turned the gaze to Daemon. The spirit remained unruffled.

"How are you still alive?" Reborn asked bluntly. Daemon shrugged.

"Would you believe me if I said it was through sheer power of will?" he asked flippantly. Reborn narrowed his eyes.

"No."

"Oh well." Daemon shrugged. The atmosphere between them seemed to crackle with some sort of tension and electricity, and Tsuna knew he wanted no part in it.

Quickly, silently, he scampered over to where Gokudera was and picked him up before running off. Call him a coward, but he'd rather be a coward than dead.

* * *

**Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict**

They were crossing the road and, once again, Yamamoto's fingers were entwined with his. It was weird and uncomfortable, though not exactly vehemently unwanted. It's just that it had been a long time since someone had held his hand, so the entire situation was unfamiliar to Tsuna. He didn't really know what to do.

"Tsuna…" At Yamamoto's tone, Tsuna's head immediately snapped up. Yamamoto was looking at him with smile tinged with sadness. "It's alright if you don't want to hold hands with me, you know. I don't mind."

_Liar_, thought Tsuna as he saw Yamamoto break eye contact. _You'd totally mind._

Instead, however, Tsuna squeezed Yamamoto's hand and looked in front when Yamamoto's head abruptly turned to look at him. "I don't mind it, Yamamoto-kun. We're friends, right? And you just want to keep me safe. If this helps then…" Tsuna shrugged. He chanced a glance up at Yamamoto's face and had to blink when he saw the soft, warm gaze Yamamoto was giving him.

"Your feelings were able to reach your companion!" _Oh no_. "You feel closer to Yamamoto Takeshi. Your Yamamoto Takeshi bond has gained a level!"

"Well, I don't know if I ever said this but…" Yamamoto turned to face the front and his face turned a little pink. He awkwardly scratched his cheek as he tightened his grip around Tsuna's hand. "You're important to me too, you know?"

Again, there was the shift, and time stopped. Whilst Tsuna and Yamamoto were in the middle of the road. Wasn't this dangerous?!

["Thanks, you're important to me too."]

["I really like you."]

[Hug him]

[Kiss him on the cheek]

Choices, choices. The last two were definitely out, on the basis that they were _in the middle of the road_. Sure, there were no cars around, but you could never be too careful. And even if Tsuna had his buffs, Yamamoto didn't and he didn't want to risk it because, well. Yamamoto was important to him too. He was his _friend_ for goodness' sake. So, the first option.

It was basically Tsuna choosing the lesser evil at this point.

"You have chosen the right option!"

_Why do these things happen to me?_

* * *

**But Why Though**

"Tsuna-san…" Nagi was fidgeting and looking at the ground. Tsuna paused whatever he was doing and waited patiently for Nagi to continue. "Do you remember what I said about my… penpals? About us helping them if they manage to get out of jail?"

Tsuna nodded slowly, and Nagi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ah, my friends have broken out of jail. We can still help them, right?"

"…" Tsuna took a while to collect his thoughts. "When I said get out of jail, that wasn't really what I meant…" At Nagi's crestfallen look, Tsuna quickly added on, "But yeah, the offer still stands, although I don't know how much of a help we can be."

Right after he finished his sentence, faint indigo mist began to fill the room, and three boys appeared behind Nagi. Tsuna stared at them, not showing even the slightest bit of surprise, and took in the names above their heads.

[Rokudo Mukuro, Level 50]

[Kakimoto Chikusa, Level 34]

[Joshima Ken, Level 34]

For some reason, Tsuna felt that they seemed rather familiar, although he couldn't quite put his finger on it. The middle boy – Rokudo Mukuro – stared at Tsuna with a strange gleam in his heterochromatic eyes. Tsuna couldn't help but take a step back. He could tell that Mukuro's eyes caught his movement as a flash of sadistic amusement flickered through them, causing Tsuna to want to bury himself in a hole. Why wasn't his Sense Danger skill acting up?

Nagi started to introduce her friends. Tsuna had a question.

"How did you guys meet? I mean, you guys are penpals, right? I… can't really see how." Nagi shuffled awkwardly and glanced at Mukuro, as if asking him to speak.

"Kufufu, we aren't exactly penpals," Mukuro explained. "I met Chrome while I was taking a walk through my illusions…" Mukuro carefully kept his eye on Tsuna as he spoke. Tsuna resolutely refused to show any emotion on his face and was vindictively pleased when he saw Mukuro frown slightly in disappointment. "And we started conversing from then on."

"Alright." _I have no idea what he's talking about._ "Do you three have a place to stay?" When Nagi shook her head, Tsuna frowned. "Huh, but then where _can_ you stay? It's nearing winter, so Kokuyo Land is definitely out of the question, and I don't know if hotels need identify verification or not. And which family would take in a bunch of teens without question?" Tsuna asked aloud. He then caught Nagi's eye, and took a few steps back. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

* * *

"Tsuna-nii!" Fuuta threw himself at Tsuna when he reached home. Tsuna smiled as he ruffled Fuuta's hair.

"I'm back."

"Welcome home," his mother answered. She then caught sight of the other people around Tsuna. "And who are your friends?"

Tsuna's eye twitched at the word 'friends', but didn't deny Nana's claim. "Mum, this is Mukuro, Chikusa, and Ken. They don't have a home right now, so is it alright if they stay with us?"

"Of course! There's an extra room down the hall—" There was _always_ an extra room down the hall "—that your friends can stay in. I hope they feel comfortable there!"

"Thanks mum!" He chanced a glance back at the three and took note that they seemed a like taken aback at his mother's total lack of hesitation when welcoming virtual strangers into her house. "C'mon, do you three mind sharing a room? If you find that it's too small, then… there's probably another room down the hall."

* * *

They settled with Chikusa and Ken in one room and Mukuro in another. As he was getting Mukuro settled in his room (which already had a bed and all… there were things his mother wasn't telling him) the indigo haired boy suddenly spoke.

"It appears that you already have your hands on Ranking Fuuta," he began in a conversational tone. Tsuna blinked.

"Ranking… Fuuta? Huh, 'Ranking' is a pretty weird surname…"

"It's not his surname," Mukuro said dryly. "Ranking Fuuta is his title." Tsuna laughed sheepishly.

"Right. I knew that. But why such a weird title?" Tsuna turned to face Mukuro, tilting his head to the side in question. Mukuro narrowed his eyes.

"Don't you already know?"

"…" Tsuna reflected on the time Fuuta spent with his family. "Oh, is it because he's so good at ranking? I mean, he even managed to list out all my favourite food in perfect order! He must be very observant."

Mukuro stared at him as if he was an idiot. Tsuna didn't really like it.

"So, Chrome has told me that you're to be Vongola Decimo," Mukuro abruptly changed the subject.

"Why do you call Nagi-san Chrome?" Tsuna, unable to read the atmosphere, asked. Mukuro looked a little annoyed.

"It was because she asked to be called Chrome," he replied, voice a little strained. Tsuna nodded slowly. Nagi didn't tell him that. Perhaps they would talk about this later; if Nagi wanted to be identified as Chrome, then they should call her Chrome.

"What do you plan to do with Vongola?" Mukuro asked, cutting through Tsuna's train of thought. Surprised at the sudden question, Tsuna blurted out the first thing to come into his mind.

"Burn it to the ground, of course."

"What?" Mukuro's eyes widened.

"What?" Tsuna replied, still unsure of what he just said. "Oh. No. That was. I meant that I was going to bring Vongola back to its vigilante roots," Tsuna grinned awkwardly. "I didn't know where the whole burning thing came from, honest."

"I… see…" Mukuro looked a little weirded out, and Tsuna decided that this was as good a time as any to make a strategic retreat.

* * *

**Getting to Know You**

When Reborn came back from wherever Reborns go to spend their time, the first thing he saw was Haru teaching Mukuro and Tsuna how to sew. He stood stock still for a moment, stunned by the scene in general, before he marched in to drag Tsuna off for explanations. Mukuro stared at the comic duo as Tsuna screeched and clawed at the floor in an attempt to delay the inevitable.

"Was that…"

"Yeah. Reborn, Tsuna-kun's tutor. I really pity Tsuna-kun. Anyway, if you sew it like that, you can…"

Mukuro wondered why Haru was so nonchalant about the entire thing.

* * *

"Mukuro-san, hello!" Tsunayoshi looked like he had just crawled out from the pits of hell and, considering that Mukuro had _actually_ gone to hell before, it was saying something. "Oh, Chikusa-san, Ken-san, nice to see you as well!" He stopped in front of them and smiled brightly. Ken eyed the bits of debris sticking out of Tsunayoshi's hair.

"You look like you got hit by a truck, byon," he commented bluntly. Tsunayoshi laughed.

"Nah, getting hit by a truck isn't so bad. I just went through some training with Reborn. Oh!" He dug through the bag in his hands and handed a CD to Chikusa. "I heard from Fuuta that you liked techno, so when I saw that it was on sale, I got it for you!" Chikusa looked at Mukuro, asking him for permission to receive the gift and Mukuro nodded. Chikusa gingerly took the disk from Tsunayoshi's hands and examined it, unused to receiving things from others.

"…thank you," he said finally. Tsunayoshi nodded.

"No problem! And here's peppermint gum for you, Ken. Again, Fuuta told me that you would enjoy it." Ken wasn't as polite and snatched the packet of gum away from Tsunayoshi. Tsunayoshi didn't seem to mind.

Finally Tsunayoshi turned to Mukuro. Mukuro tried his best not to seem expectant. He didn't think he succeed, judging from the smile on Tsunayoshi's face.

"Here you go, Mukuro. Chocolate. You like this brand, right? Fuuta—"

"Told you?" Mukuro completed his sentence, smirking. "Thank you, Tsunayoshi-kun."

"No problem."

* * *

"Why are you being so nice to us?" Mukuro couldn't take it anymore. Tsunayoshi was way too nice without wanting anything in return. There had to be _something_ Tsunayoshi wanted from them, to treat them so nicely.

"I'm being nice?" Tsunayoshi looked at him with wide eyes. "No I'm not, I'm just treating you like I treat the rest of my friends!"

"That's the thing. We're _not_ your friends, so why are you treating us like that?!" Mukuro burst out, frustrated. He didn't like it when he couldn't figure out his opponent's motive and, seeing that Tsunayoshi was the Vongola Decimo, it frustrated him even more. How was he going to be able to possess a boy he couldn't even understand?

"I… thought we were friends," Tsuna looked a little hurt. "Because you're Chrome-san's friends, so that makes you our friends too." Tsuna sighed and walked over to Mukuro, wrapping his arms around the taller teen in a hug. Mukuro immediately stiffened up.

"Tsunayoshi. _What_ are you doing?" he hissed out, incredibly uncomfortable.

"I'm hugging you," Tsunayoshi said matter-of-factly. "You looked like you needed one and because we're friends, I'm giving you one."

"I see." Mukuro _wasn't_ blushing, no matter what anyone might say. "Please stop." Immediately, Tsunayoshi let go and stepped back. Strangely, Mukuro missed the warmth Tsunayoshi had taken away with him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I'll leave now."

"No, wait!" Both Mukuro and Tsunayoshi seemed confused with the turn of events. "Tell me more about your friends," Mukuro finally said, trying to convince himself that he only wanted to know about his potential pawns, and not that he wanted to know how friends were supposed to be like.

He didn't quite succeed.

Tsunayoshi suddenly winced and rubbed at his ear. "Um, alright," he said after he recovered. "There's Ryohei-senpai…"

Mukuro listened attentively to Tsunayoshi's voice.

* * *

**Dokuro Chrome**

Chrome sat at the dining room with her parents, eating together with them for the first time in what seemed like forever. The atmosphere was cold, and the room was silent apart from the sound of utensils occasionally hitting against the glass of bowls and plates. Chrome tried her best to make herself seem small and transparent as she wondered just why her parents had decided to have dinner with her all of a sudden.

The suffocating silence continued for a while more, before Chrome's mother set down her bowl and chopsticks, making her (step-)father follow suit. She almost did the same, but managed to pretend that she wasn't affected as she kept on eating. She could feel her mother's displeasure, but didn't stop.

"Nagi," her mother began. Chrome paused and slowly set her food on the table. It was tasteless compared to the meals she ate with Hamagure.

Refusing to meet her mother's eyes, she continued to stare at the table. "Yes, mother?" she answered. Her mother made a noise of displeasure.

"Look at me when I'm speaking, Nagi." Reluctantly, Chrome tilted her head up to meet her mother's glacial gaze. "That's better. Now that I have your attention, I would like you to know that I have been hearing rumours from the neighbours. Unpleasant rumours." Her face twisted into a grimace. "They say that you have been associating with… unrespectable people as of late. Is this true?"

Chrome paused at her mother's words. Unrespectable people? Were… were they referring to Hamagure? That's…

"That's not true," Chrome said softly, but firmly. "My friends are not unrespectable."

"Don't assume that I do not know what you have been up to in your spare time. I will not allow you to associate yourself with such riffraff. For one, that useless Sawada boy with his single parent mother. What do they call him? Oh yes, Dame-Tsuna. He is beneath you. Then there's the Sasagawa siblings. The elder one disrupts the peace often, and is such an imbecile. And not to mention that weird Miura girl!" Chrome's anger grew at every word that came out of her mother's mouth. "Have you ever thought about what effect it will have on the family reputation?" she demanded. Chrome broke eye contact and looked away.

_You mean what effect it'll have on _your_ reputation_, Chrome thought bitterly. _Since when did you ever care about anyone else?_

"My daughter will not associate herself with such people," her mother said with a note of finality in her voice. "I have already enrolled you in Kumon Kokusai Gakuen, a boarding school in the Kanagawa Prefecture."

"The Kanagawa Prefecture?!" That was far from Namimori. Too far.

"Yes. Your flight is scheduled tomorrow morning. I trust that you can board the flight yourself? Both your father and I have something on tomorrow, so we won't be able to accompany you."

"…" Chrome was frozen in shock. She was going to leave Namimori. She was going to leave _her friends_. How could her mother do this to her? She opened her mouth, wanting to argue, but the words lodged themselves in her throat, and she was unable to speak. Her mother took her silence as an agreement and smugly went back to her food. Chrome looked over to her step-father, but he wasn't paying attention to her, just tapping away at his phone, still working even at home. Slowly, she looked back down at the table. There was nothing she could do against her parents. After all, Yoinara Nagi lived under her mother's thumb, unable to do anything that went against what her mother expected of her. In the end, she was just going to follow what her mother told her to do without any protest. Without any thought of her own.

…No. _No._ Chrome refused to believe that she would do that. She refused to believe that she hadn't changed. Wasn't this why she asked her friends to call her Chrome? To show that she wasn't that weak-willed girl anymore. She wouldn't let herself be her mother's doll!

That's right, she wasn't useless, lonely Yoinara Nagi. She was Dokuro Chrome, valued member of Hamagure, and beloved by all her friends!

There was _no way_ she would allow herself to be shipped off to the Kanagawa Prefecture.

* * *

She shouldn't pack a lot of clothes, they'll only slow her down. If she had money, she wouldn't need to pack food. She probably should take her valuables, but nothing too heavy, and definitely nothing that could link her back to Yoinara Nagi.

She was Dokuro Chrome now.

Her parents had given her a debit card so that she would have enough money even if they were gone. Chrome stared at it for a while, wondering if she should take it along with her. On one hand, it would definitely be useful. On the other hand, if she used it, it would most definitely be traced back to her. In the end, she took it along. She would never know when she might need it.

Her parents weren't the type to turn in early, so Chrome had to be careful. She also couldn't let her neighbours see her since she knew that they would talk. Quickly, she formulated a brief plan in her head. Get out of the house, put on an illusion, then go to the nearest ATM and draw as much money as she would need, but not enough to make her parents overly suspicious. Anything after that could be planned after she was sure of her freedom.

* * *

Freedom was intoxicating, spellbinding, addictive… yet totally, utterly terrifying at the same time.

The anonymity she had was marvelous; she could do _anything she wanted_. She was Dokuro Chrome, not Yoinara Nagi. Her own person, not her mother's doll.

She had miscalculated, though. It was too late at night to find an apartment, and she was pretty sure her parents would be able to track her down if she rented a hotel room to sleep in. This didn't leave many choices for her to spend the night, especially since it was nearing winter. Since a hotel was out of the question, and she didn't want to bother her friends so late at night, this left Kokuyo Land. Chrome hesitated. Kokuyo Land was cold and dark and gloomy without her friends around, but… It was just for the night. It shouldn't be so bad, right?

* * *

Tsuna bolted upright. He checked the clock and saw that it was a little past three in the morning. Logically, there was no reason for him to be awake, no reason for the blood to be racing through his veins and his heart to thump wildly in his chest. Logically.

Tsuna laughed wryly to himself as he hurriedly jumped out of his bed. Since when did his life ever follow logic?

He paused for a brief while to leave a note for his mother before slipping on his coat and shoes, and running out of the door.

* * *

"Chrome-san…" Without hesitation, Tsuna shrugged off his coat and wrapped it around Chrome. It was a coat that Haru made, so he was pretty sure that it would get Chrome warm in a short period of time. Until then, he would sit down beside her until she stopped shivering.

A minute later Tsuna realised that Chrome's hands probably were cold too so he called up his inventory in order to take his mittens out. As he was tugging them onto Chrome's hands, however, the girl started to stir.

"Ts-Tsuna-san?" she whispered.

"I'm here, Chrome-san. Are you alright? Can you walk?" Chrome nodded. "Alright, why don't you stay at my house tonight? We can talk tomorrow." Chrome nodded again and the both of them stood up. Tsuna took a moment to shift so that he was able to support Chrome's weight.

"I'm sorry, Tsuna-san…"

"We'll talk in the morning. Now we just have to focus on getting to my house," Tsuna said firmly. He felt Chrome's faint smile against his skin.

"Thank you, Tsuna-san."

* * *

**Sleep Deprivation**

After giving Chrome some hot chrysanthemum tea, Tsuna led her to one of the extra rooms in the Sawada household, making sure she was well and comfortable before he left. He stood in the hallway for a while, wondering if he should check up on the others or if he should just go back to sleep, before his worry for his friends overcame his desire for sleep and he went down the hall to peek into the rooms. Everyone was in their own beds and fast asleep, making Tsuna breathe a sigh of relief.

He reached the last room, Mukuro's room, and opened it. He paused, as did the person in the room.

"Still awake?" Tsuna asked Mukuro. Mukuro blinked and donned his usual smirk.

"So are you, Tsunayoshi-kun. Why don't you come sleep with me?" he offered cheekily. Tsuna stared at him for a while, and then he shrugged and entered the room. He was really tired and really cold, and his room was further down the hall. He didn't really feel like making the seemingly long trek back to his room, and since Mukuro was offering…

"Tsunayoshi-kun?" Mukuro spluttered, but Tsunayoshi was already in bed next to him and dead to the world, having passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow. This was… strange. Tsunayoshi really was careless, exposing his weakness to someone like Mukuro.

Unless… Tsunayoshi trusted him? Hah, then he was both careless and a fool. How could Tsunayoshi still trust him, even after he knew the crime Mukuro had committed? Mukuro had _eradicated_ an entire family, for goodness' sake!

He remembered the day he told Tsunayoshi about the Estraneo Famiglia. The boy hadn't looked at him disgust, nor pity. He never said that Mukuro shouldn't have killed the Estraneo, nor did he commend Mukuro for his bloodthirsty actions. He just sat there and listened, ever silent and never judging, showing only compassion to Mukuro.

Gazing at Tsunayoshi's sleeping form, Mukuro had to admit that maybe, just maybe, Tsunayoshi wasn't a bad person after all.

Suddenly, Tsuna jerked awake and practically jolted out of the bed, as if he had been woken up by a sudden and loud noise. He hit the ground and curled up, placing his hands over his ears. "Why can't you let me sleep," he sobbed. "Why must you talk about flags in the middle of the night, why…"

Mukuro stared at Tsuna, not knowing what to say.

Tsunayoshi really was a strange person.

* * *

**New Weapons**

"Weapons?" Mukuro asked Tsuna when Shouichi handed him a small trident. "I thought you did not wish to be a Mafia boss."

"Yeah." Tsuna examined his new cotton gloves. He never really got his old pair back from Chrome, but at least he had new ones now. "The weapons thing is just for us. We were playing with these well before we knew of the Mafia."

"I… see…" Mukuro looked at his new trident with interest. "These are very well made."

"Thank you, Mukuro-san!" Haru, who was passing by, overheard the conversation. "Ah! There's an extra function to that, since a trident is pretty conspicuous. You see…" Haru proceeded to show Mukuro how to turn his trident into a pendant he could wear on a bracelet or a necklace. Tsuna vaguely wondered how that was possible before he decided to ignore it for the sake of his sanity. He lived in a world where people could emit rainbow flames at the drop of a hat; was hiding a trident really that big of an issue?

"Hey, Tsuna, look!" Yamamoto was waving a baseball bat in his hands. Suddenly, the bat burst into blue flames, and it became a sword. "I can use this sword to practice the sword style my father taught me! …Tsuna, are you okay?"

Tsuna had his face buried in his hands. _Suspension of disbelief_, he told himself. _Suspension of disbelief. Everything is possible and everything is fine._ Perhaps if he repeated it to himself enough, he'd start to believe it.

* * *

**That Thing, In Italy**

"Primo Jr., about that thing in Italy…"

"Sorry Daemon-san, I can't talk now!" Tsuna apologised as he ran after Lambo and the pink grenade the younger boy held in his hands. "I'm busy!"

* * *

"Primo Jr.—"

"Waaaahh! Hibari-san, I'm sorry!" Tsuna squeaked, running past Daemon without even hearing his words. Daemon sighed and resolved to tell Tsuna another time.

* * *

"I found something… Tsunayoshi?!" The boy was lying on the ground, unmoving. A quick check later revealed that he was just unconscious. Daemon gave a sigh of relief and watched in amusement as Tsuna's tutor appeared to drag the boy off to more training.

It was only later that he remembered he had something he wanted to tell the boy.

* * *

"Tsunayoshi—"

"Sorry Daemon-san, can we talk later?" Tsuna turned to give the spirit an apologetic smile. "I need to help Chrome-san find an apartment she can live in." Daemon's eye twitched, but he didn't say anything. He just spun around and disappeared.

* * *

"Daemon-san?" No answer. "Daemon-san, was there something you wanted to tell me?" Still silence. "Daemon-san…?" Tsuna looked up at the spirit. Daemon turned to look away. "Daemon-san, are you… sulking?"

"Don't you have better things to do?" Daemon snapped back. Tsuna shook his head as he smiled. So Daemon had a side like this too.

"Not really, I told the others that I needed to talk to you. I'm sorry for ignoring you before." Daemon told himself not to look at Tsuna, but he stole a glance at the younger boy and caved in at the large, hopeful eyes Tsuna was giving him.

"Fine!" he said with all the fake reluctance he could muster. "I guess I could tell you."

"Thank you, Daemon-san!" Tsuna beamed, and Daemon had to take a while to recollect his thoughts.

"Well, I was in Italy when I came across something interesting." Tsuna nodded, prompting him to continue. "It was a man with black hair and scars on his face, frozen in ice!" Tsuna's mouth dropped open.

"What."

"Hahi! That's terrible!" Haru had overheard Daemon's words. There was no going back now. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

"No—" Tsuna began.

"Yes, actually," Daemon talked over him. "With your current level of strength, Hamagure should be able to break into the fortress where the man has been kept, and take him out."

Tsuna squinted at him. "You're planning something."

Daemon acted like he hadn't heard what Tsuna had said.

* * *

Hamagure was holding a meeting.

"We shouldn't go to Italy," Tsuna said.

"But there's a man frozen in ice! We need to save him!" Haru argued. Kyoko and Chrome nodded along. Hana, on the other hand, seemed like she would rather be somewhere else.

"I don't know, I think he might be frozen for a reason," Gokudera mused.

"Exactly!" Tsuna hissed. "What if he's really scary?"

"Haha, then we'll just have to make friends with him, don't we? Besides, Tsuna, didn't you think Daemon was scary too?" Yamamoto pointed out. Tsuna's eye twitched, but he had nothing to say to that. Instead, he turned to look at Mukuro.

"Mukuro, you can't possibly want to go, right? I'm pretty sure it's the Mafia! You _hate_ the Mafia!"

"That's exactly why I want to go, Tsunayoshi. If the Mafia took time to freeze this person, then unfreezing him would most definitely anger them," Mukuro said. Tsuna turned to look at Hibari.

"Hibari-san, we shouldn't go, right? We'll be leaving Namimori!"

Hibari grunted in agreement. "I do not wish to leave Namimori," he said simply. Mukuro's eyes glinted, and he immediately tugged Tsuna into his lap.

"That's great, then. More Tsunayoshi for me."

Hibari's eyes narrowed. "I changed my mind. I'm going."

"What?" Tsuna squawked as he flailed, trying to squirm out of Mukuro's grasp. Hibari all but snarled at Mukuro.

The two had hated each other at first sight. Tsuna thought it was silly, but the intensity of hate they held for each other reached cosmic levels. Perhaps, Tsuna mused, they had known each other in another life and had sworn to hate each other for the rest of eternity.

Tsuna succeeded in dislodging himself from Mukuro's grip and turned to Reborn, his last hope. "Reborn, this is a waste of time, isn't it? We could be doing training instead!"

Reborn seemed thoughtful, which was bad. However, he was also wary, which was good. In the end, Reborn came to a decision, and it wasn't one that Tsuna liked. "Dame-Tsuna, I can train you in Italy as well," he pointed out, and that was that.

They were going to Italy.

* * *

**New  
**

Daemon had somehow managed to procure a place for them to stay whilst in Italy. It wasn't a hotel, but some villa in the middle of the woods.

Things were already off to a bad start.

Everyone else seemed rather excited, except for Hana, who only tagged along because she was friends with them.

"Sometimes," she confided to Tsuna, "I really wish that I didn't have a heart, just so I can leave you to their insanity."

Hana was really too good to Tsuna.

The plane landed in Italy, and Tsuna's first step on Italian soils came with a strange sound that he, and only he, heard. With rising dread, he spoke.

"Game menu, quest log." And there it was, just as he feared.

[Story: Varia]

Tsuna _knew_ he should have stayed in Japan.

* * *

_Daily Life Story Complete_

_Proceed to next story?_

_(Yes) (No)_

* * *

**Author's note**

Guess what Daemon found in Italy.

Here it is, the chapter that destroyed all my careful planning. Don't worry, the things you wanted (and I said I would cover) in Daily Life (aka snow fight and all) will still be written. Later. After Varia.

As I said, the story goes where it wants to go.

Other notes:

Chrome is smart, but she still lacks the ability to think ahead of time. It will come with experience. My mother taught me how to go on the run: the most important part is to pack light.

I might be getting the (part-time) job I applied for. Why I am telling you this: It's going to be a hectic one (kindergarten jobs usually are) and I might not have much time to write. Well, not like you expect much from me, considering the abrupt and sudden hiatus of everything from me. I just thought you had the right to know.

**Reviews**

_guess_ Um, I guess it depends which rankings of tsuna you're talking about.

_tsunasexual _Yeah, I know it's short.

_lily_ Daemon should probs be known and feared, but not for his betrayal of Primo.

_Guest 3/2_ Eh, I haven't really figured out how Tsuna'll deal with Kawahira, but it's probably as anticlimactic as what you say.


	10. Varia, Chapter I

**Warning: Anticlimactic stuff. Please don't expect anything dramatic.**

* * *

**Recurring **

Although _some people_ wished to charge straight into the fortress where the frozen man was kept, the majority agreed that they should take a few days to rest and come up with a plan before actually attempting the break in. Also, Daemon had to go get more information about the layout of the entire place.

In Tsuna's awfully honest opinion, they probably should just leave the man alone. His idea was vetoed, as expected. And then Reborn kicked him out, on the basis of 'if you aren't going to contribute anything useful, Dame-Tsuna, you must as well go get us some coffee. I want an espresso'.

How Reborn expected Tsuna to get them coffee, when Tsuna didn't even understand the slightest bit of Italian, was a mystery. Being a total, utter coward, Tsuna didn't even dare to point out the holes in Reborn's plan before scampering off to the nearest café, not wanting to get shot. In hindsight, he probably should have spoken up. Getting shot was most definitely better than being lost in an unfamiliar country, not knowing both the way around and the spoken language.

After much trial and error, and frantic checking of the many tourist maps Tsuna snagged from the airport, he managed to get to a café he believed Reborn would like. He hesitated outside the café, unsure of how to order. Was ordering in Italy the same as ordering in Japan? Or was there some sort of etiquette that he needed to follow? All these questions piled up in his head, chaining down his feet and making him unable to even take a step into the café.

"_What's wrong, are you okay?_" a voice asked in a foreign language.

Not expecting someone to talk to him, Tsuna jumped in surprise and let out his trademark shriek. The person chuckled at that.

"_That was cute, but you didn't answer my question. Are you alright?_"

Tsuna turned to face the person and saw a man with blonde hair and warm brown eyes. Tsuna let his eyes trail up for a moment to take in the orange words above his head.

[Dino Cavallone, Level 43]

Tsuna forced himself to lower his gaze before he spoke.

"S-sorry, I don't understand that language," he smiled awkwardly. The man blinked and smiled back at him.

"My apologies," he said in fluent Japanese. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am." Tsuna was confused by the question. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you _have_ been standing outside the café doors for around ten minutes or so," Dino pointed out. Tsuna immediately flushed red.

"I'm just… not sure how to order coffee, that's all," he tried to explain. His worries sounded silly now that it was in the open, but Dino didn't seem to judge.

"Oh? Would you like me to order for you?" Dino asked with a smile. Embarrassed, Tsuna nodded.

"Yes, please." Dino laughed.

"C'mon, you don't need to be so formal! My name's Dino, and I like helping other people. How about you?"

"Um…" Tsuna paused for a while. This guy was weird, but he seemed genuinely kind. Also, none of his skills were acting up, which was another plus. "Tsuna. I like spending time with my friends and family."

"Well then, Tsuna." Dino gave him a charismatic smile. "What coffee would you like?"

Tsuna took a moment to remember Reborn's very complicated order - too complicated for a simple espresso, in Tsuna's opinion. Upon hearing it, Dino froze up and something similar to fear flashed through his eyes. He quickly covered it up with a grin.

"I didn't peg you to be the type to enjoy that sort of coffee," Dino commented. Tsuna gave him a wry smile.

"It's not for me," he admitted. "It's for… a friend. He has pretty high standards."

"Oh, I knew someone like that too!" Dino exclaimed. "Although, if your friend's taste is similar to what I'm thinking of, the coffee here isn't going to cut it."

Tsuna worried his bottom lip with his teeth as distress crept up on him. "Oh no, what am I going to do?" he muttered to himself. Dino looked contemplative.

"Why not I bring you to another café? The person I knew used to get his coffee from there." Tsuna jumped at the opportunity.

"Thank you so much!" He tried to express every bit of his gratitude through his smile. Dino's eyes widened and he quickly looked away, scratching the back of his head.

"It's no problem."

* * *

The person accompanying Dino introduced himself as Romario. Tsuna felt a little guilty that he hadn't noticed the suited man before. Romario didn't seem to take any offence, which made Tsuna feel even worse.

Dino was an amiable person, and didn't seem the least bit awkward around Tsuna despite the fact that they were practically strangers. He filled the silence with idle chatter, talking about almost everything under the sun. Strangely, Tsuna noted, he never said anything about himself.

As Tsuna listened to Dino, he noticed the crowd of people around them beginning to thin. Normally, Tsuna wouldn't really care, but something about how the people around them moved set Tsuna on edge.

Well, that and the fact that there weren't any words floating above their heads.

Tsuna slowed down as he continued to take greater notice of his surroundings. The more Tsuna became aware of it, the more everything around him felt wrong. It was almost the same feeling he got that day Hana had requested Kyoko to trap him in a terrifying, almost traumatizing, illusion for her revenge.

…Actually, it didn't feel _almost_ like an illusion. It felt _exactly_ like an illusion.

Tsuna stopped walking.

Dino paused as well, turning to face Tsuna. "What wrong, Tsuna?" he asked with a hint of confusion in his voice. Tsuna hesitated, wondering if he should inform Dino of his suspicions. Would it be the right decision on trust Dino? Well, if Dino was bad, Tsuna's Sense Danger and Hyper Intuition skills would have alerted him to that fact, right?

Another moment passed, and Tsuna decided to take a leap of faith. He gestured both Dino and Romario to come closer.

"Um, I… don't know how to put this, but something about our surroundings seems wrong," he whispered. Clarity overtook the confusion in Dino's eyes before his gaze sharpened and he exchanged a look with Romario. So Dino had known about it as well?

Then Dino turned back to Tsuna was a disarming smile. It's probably your imagination, Tsuna," he said, and Tsuna had to resist the urge to gape. "Oh!" Dino exclaimed suddenly as he pointed to a random, dark alleyway. "Here's a short cut to the café I was talking about. Let's go!" When Tsuna didn't move, Dino grasped his hand and pulled him along. It didn't escape Tsuna's notice that Dino's grip was a little too tight, and his steps a little too quick.

They went through the alleyway, which led to another, and then another. Tsuna was pretty sure alleyways weren't supposed to last that long and, judging from Dino's slightly strained tone, he thought so too. Dino was really something, Tsuna thought to himself, to be able to continue talking as if everything was normal. Romario was rather cool, too, to able to keep his calm like that. Tsuna was pretty much on the verge of panic right now.

And then he received four alerts from his _Sense Killing Intent_ and _Sense Danger_ skills.

Without missing a beat, Tsuna threw himself at both Dino and Romario with surprising force, just as the loud and familiar sound of gunfire ran clear. A bullet whizzed by behind Tsuna, and would have buried itself into Dino's head had Tsuna not pushed them out of the way.

Just his luck. He came out to prevent himself from getting shot only to, once again, face the threat of _getting shot at_. Only this time, it was a lot scarier because Tsuna was pretty sure the gunman was out to kill.

"D-Dino-san! What's going on?" Tsuna asked the blond. The gunman was probably after Dino, after all, and Tsuna didn't remember doing anything to offend anyone in the short period of time he had been in Italy.

Or maybe… he had _actually_ broke some sort of coffee etiquette rule and now the coffee assassins were after him!

…

Yeah, that was a little too absurd to be true, even for his life.

"I'm so sorry, Tsuna. I didn't mean to drag you into this." Dino looked so sorrowful and apologetic that Tsuna couldn't help but to say he forgave him. It kind of annoyed and unnerved Tsuna in equal degree. Was this what getting hit by Dazzling Smile felt like? If that was the case, he should probably cut down on his usage of that particular skill.

"Dino-san, Romario-san, we need to get out of here!" Tsuna hissed. Dino paused for a moment before he nodded and reached into his jacket to take out a whip. Tsuna stared at it. How was a _whip_ going to go against a _gun_?

Dino flicked his wrist and the whip lashed out, curling around a heavy piece of debris on the ground. He flicked his wrist again and the debris went flying through the air. It made a perfect arc and landed on the roof of a fairly far away building. There was a strange, muted, 'thump' and the gunfire stopped. Tsuna slowly turned away from the building to stare at Dino.

_How the hell—_

The surroundings melted away and Tsuna found himself standing in a vastly different alleyway than he was before. So his theory was right, it _was_ an illusion. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off his upcoming headache. He couldn't give in to his urge to curl up in a corner and scream; he still needed to buy coffee for Reborn!

"Tsuna…?"

"So, are you still up for bringing me to the café?" Tsuna turned to look at Dino and gave a tired smile. Dino seemed a bit surprised at Tsuna's words.

"You're… You're not afraid?"

"I am, but honestly? I've seen weirder things."

Then, to Tsuna's surprise, the world went dark.

"You have established a bond with _Dino Cavallone_. Your _Dino Cavallone_ bond is now level one!"

Tsuna paused. He had established a bond with this stranger. Does this mean that Dino was going to be a recurring character in his life?!

* * *

**Scouting, to the limit**

"We should break in at midnight," Haru whispered dramatically. A few people agreed with her.

"We shouldn't break in at all!" Tsuna protested, but of course no one heard him.

"I don't think midnight would be a really good idea," Chrome pointed out. Ever since she had run away from home, she seemed way more confident and unafraid to make herself heard. "Research has shown that human beings are least attentive during the periods that at just before dawn and dusk. If we were to break in, we should do it then."

"I see! Dawn attacks and dusk attacks right?" Kyoko added. "I've read about them too, but it seems a little risky to attack at five in the morning or seven in the evening. I suggest attacking at around three? Not many people are awake then, and it's probably nearing the end of the guard's shifts too, so they'll be a little less alert."

"Personally, I think we should scout out the area first; confirm when the shifts begin and end before we try anything. It's better to be safe than sorry, and it'll highly increase our chances of success," Hana pointed out. Tsuna started to agree with her before he caught himself. Why was he agreeing with her? He didn't even want anything to do with this!

"Daemon-san," Shouichi turned to look at their ghostly companion. "Is it alright for you to help us spy on the guards and give us their shift timings?" Daemon looked amused.

"Yes and no," he said. "It is possible for me to help you, but I would prefer it if someone accompanied me. It would be good experience for them, after all." Daemon stole a glance at Tsuna and Tsuna paled.

_You are not going to drag me into this!_ He tried to telepathically convey his message to Daemon. It didn't work. He turned to plead with Reborn but, to his horror, Reborn looked as if he agreed with Daemon. Of course he agreed with Daemon, Reborn was a _tutor._ Tsuna was a fool to ever assume otherwise.

* * *

"This place's defence is really good," Tsuna whined. "How in the world are we supposed to break in?"

"I prefer the defence system they adopted when I was still alive," Daemon sniffed. Tsuna blinked and turned to look at Daemon.

"You broke into this place before?" Tsuna asked incredulously. Daemon laughed.

"Something like that."

For some reason, Tsuna felt that his words were really foreboding.

* * *

"So? How was it?" Ryohei asked excitedly when Tsuna and Daemon arrived back at the villa they were staying at. Tsuna, too tired to entertain anyone, just breezed past him without a word, walking to a corner of the room. He then lay down, curled up, and went to sleep. Ryohei stared at him for a while before turning to Daemon. "Does that mean that the spying went extremely great?"

"_I_ thought it went rather well, to the limit." After saying that, Daemon looked rather horrified. "I apologise, I do not know what came over me," he quickly added, still a bit disturbed. Ryohei blinked, and a grin slowly crept onto his face.

"'To the limit'?" He pumped his fist into the air. "That's another _extreme_ saying, to the limit!" he exclaimed. Daemon resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands; he was a noble and repeatedly hitting his head against the wall wasn't something a noble did. Although, that action looked more and more tempting by the second.

"What have I done…?"

* * *

**Right  
**

"Do we have all that we need?" Kyoko asked. Reborn had appointed her as the unofficial captain of this rescue mission.

"Yeah, we do. Everyone has their flame boots and headset-masks on. Shouichi-san has the equipment, and we all are equipped with our best weapons," Chrome replied after checking. She was the second-in-command for this mission. Gokudera had loudly protested on Tsuna's behalf, saying that Tsuna was better suited to be the captain or, at least, second-in-command, but Tsuna strongly declined.

"Kyoko-chan and Chrome-san's abilities will benefit us a lot more if they take the lead this time," Tsuna had tried to explain to Gokudera. He didn't look convinced, but backed down as it was clearly seen that Tsuna supported Reborn's decision.

They then proceeded to divide themselves into three teams; one team to enter the building, one team to help the first team in case things went bad, and one team to provide backup through their headsets. The first team consisted of Tsuna, Gokudera, Hibari, Kyoko, and Hana. Reborn and Daemon were content to stay with the backup team.

Tsuna had a lot of misgivings about this arrangement. Mostly because Gokudera with his bombs and Hibari with his "bite you to death" threats weren't very conspicuous, but there was no other way around it. The second and backup team had to stay together, and Tsuna knew leaving Hibari with Mukuro would only end up in disaster. Also, Gokudera refused to leave Tsuna's side, and hence the team was fixed. Tsuna just hoped that Kyoko's illusions were strong enough to make up for everything.

"This is trespassing. Breaking and entering. It's against the law!" Tsuna protested in one last attempt to talk his friends out of the situation. He didn't know why he even bothered.

"Hahi! But it's for a good cause! We're saving someone!" Haru shot back, and Tsuna couldn't think of anything to refute to that, so he left the matter alone and adjusted his mask. Their masks served as both a disguise and a way for the back-up to communicate with them. How Shouichi and Haru had gotten it done in such a short time was a mystery to Tsuna, although he was pretty sure Gokudera had helped too.

Hana stood beside him. "Hey, let's make the best out of this situation. For one, we're in the same group," she pointed out. Tsuna laughed.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Alright, it's time to move in." Kyoko walked towards them. "Let's do our best, Hana-chan, Tsuna-kun!"

"Yeah, you too," Hana replied. Tsuna only gave a nervous smile as his fear gripped him once again. Hana took one look at him and hit him over the head. "You're not doing this yourself, you have us. We will watch your back as you watch ours." Hana paused and her voice dropped to a whisper as she gestured towards Hibari. "And we have that violent monkey on our side too, so don't be afraid."

Tsuna closed his eyes as he tried to control his breathing, already feeling a little less afraid due to Hana's words.

She always knew the right things to say.

* * *

**Anticlimactic everything**

This was a train wreck.

"Hibari-san, if you smash the cameras, it will immediately alert the guards to our area," Kyoko patiently explained for the umpteenth time while Gokudera discussed with Shouichi as to how to deal with the security cameras in their way.

"Take a video of the empty hallway then play it on loop," Hana suggested. "At least until we've passed the corridor. They still need to see the footage of the guards walking by in…" Hana turned to Tsuna.

"In fifteen minutes," he replied. Gokudera nodded his head and relayed what they said to Shouichi. There were a few nerve wracking minutes of waiting before Shouichi's voice crackled over the headsets.

"Alright, the corridor is safe to walk through for at least three minutes. Please hurry."

The hallway was long, so they had to run. However, they were already near the room where the frozen man was kept, having used the vents for most of the way since they were small enough to fit. It seemed easy enough.

Which meant that something had to go wrong, of course.

"Careful! The guard patrol is early today!" Chrome all but yelled over the speaker. Everyone froze up for a good two seconds before they started to panic.

"W-What should we do?" Hana asked.

"Run?" Tsuna squeaked. Hibari gave him a long, level look.

"The hallway is long. There is nowhere to run."

"We'll…" Kyoko took a deep breath to calm herself down. "We'll just have to fight, then."

"Understood," Chrome replied over the headset. "We're sending out team two now."

"Thanks, Chrome-chan." The group readied their weapons just as a group of suited men rounded the corner. Giving them no time to react, Kyoko quickly weaved a subtle, near unnoticeable, illusion that made their senses perceive everything to be two seconds slower than they actually are.

And then Hibari happened.

In retrospect, Tsuna shouldn't have been so surprised. He _had_ seen the level above the men's heads, after all, and they were all in the thirty to forty level range. Hibari, on the other hand, was already nearing level seventy. Coupled with Kyoko's illusion, they didn't stand a chance.

"Well," he heard Hana say from behind him. "I guess we can move on now."

"Tch, herbivores." Hibari sounded a little disappointed as he made his way back to the group.

* * *

They reached the room without much difficulty after that, and met with a whole new problem.

"We… didn't exactly plan a way to transport him out, did we?" Tsuna laughed awkwardly. The five of them stood around the giant chunk of ice, looking at each other and wondering what to do next. Gokudera stepped up to place a hand on the ice.

"We could try to melt it?" he suggested. "Or disintegrate it. Kurokawa and I have storm flames, after all. The red ones," he clarified when the group stared at him blankly. Comprehension entered their eyes and they nodded. Hana stepped up as well.

"Let's try it," she said and the both of them started to emit the red flames. A few minutes passed but nothing happened. Hana grew frustrated. "Oh my _god_," she hissed. "Why can't we have something normal for once?! Not shitty ice that defy the laws of nature!" She immediately removed her hand from the ice. It appeared untouched. Gokudera removed his hand as well and frowned.

"How is this possible?" he asked himself before he started to mutter about complicated science things Tsuna had no hope of understanding despite his high _Academic_ skills. Hibari grunted in annoyance and whacked the chunk of ice with a tonfa. He continued to whack it, each hit increasing in intensity, when he saw that he was having no effect. A grimace grew on his face and Tsuna quickly had to intervene before it turned into a scowl.

Tsuna quietly tried to call up his inventory, but found that he couldn't. Just great, the one time he needed the game mechanics and they refused to show up. Was he in the middle of a cut scene or something? He already knew he could store sentient beings in his inventory…

"We're all wearing flame boots right?" Kyoko suddenly spoke up. All eyes turned to her. "And the ice chunk is pretty easy to hold on to, so if each of us hold one part of it…"

"You can't _possibly_ be suggesting—" Tsuna started, but Hana cut him off.

"No, no, it's a feasible idea. A little weird… but still possible. What else can we do?"

"I guess…" Tsuna gave in. "But one of us has to be ready to counter attack, so they can't carry the ice," he pointed out. At that, everybody turned to look at Hibari. He seemed a little amused as he nodded.

"Okay," he said, and prepared his tonfas. The rest of the group took their places and clutched onto a chunk of the ice. It was rather heavy, but the weight was split between the four of them, and they _had_ gone through Reborn's training after all. Transporting a giant chunk of ice wasn't that hard for them.

"Let's go."

* * *

"_Vooiiii_!" There was an obstacle standing in their path. A very loud obstacle who was screaming weird stuff in Italian and had long silver hair and a very intimidating sword. "_How dare you_!" He was strong too, Tsuna noted when he saw the [Superbi Squalo, Level 56] above his head.

"_Don't let the intruders get away!_" he yelled at his men. "_Kill them all for touching the boss!_"

This was trouble. There were at least ten men, excluding Superbi Squalo. It was a risky battle, even for Hibari. Before he could suggest to put the ice down so they could lend a hand, however, another familiar voice rang through the hallway.

"Hahi, there's so many people here!" Haru exclaimed. She nodded at Kyoko's general direction. "Don't worry, captain, and focus on the mission! The others have split up and we're now getting rid of the reinforcements."

"_Vooiii! Do you think a bunch of brats like you can get rid of us that easily? We're the ninth's elite assassin group!_" Superbi Squalo turned to glare at Haru.

"Don't use that sort of tone with me!" Haru scolded. She held her knitting needles in her hand and they crackled with green electricity. Superbi Squalo's eye's widened.

"_Flames…?_" he muttered to himself. "_This is bad._"

"Let's not waste any more time, I trust in our friends' abilities," Hana said. Kyoko faltered for a moment before she nodded.

"Right, let's continue!"

* * *

They passed by Yamamoto and Ryohei, who were in their own battle with a blond man wearing a tiara; and then Mukuro and Ken who were fighting against a black haired man with many umbrellas. At first Tsuna thought he, too, was an illusionist like Kyoko but he was proven wrong when he saw the umbrella shoot out green electricity.

Well then.

They were almost stopped once or twice, but each time, Gokudera and Hana just dropped a few dynamites and cards, respectively, that were charged with red flames. The result was very bright, and seemed rather painful. Tsuna preferred not to think about it.

Finally, they reached a dead end. In front of them was a large window, and behind them were many suited men.

"What should we do?" Tsuna asked. Gokudera nodded towards the window.

"Throw it out," he said seriously. Tsuna gaped.

"B-but, won't that harm the man inside?"

"Hibari didn't deal any damage, so it should be fine," Gokudera replied. Tsuna floundered for a moment while Kyoko thought over the situation.

"On the count of three, then," she decided. "One… two…"

The resulting crash was magnificent as the broken bits of glass sparkled in the light of the rising sun, just like little gems or stars raining down from the heavens. Along with a giant chunk of ice. You couldn't miss the ice.

* * *

**Another one**

"Damn it, guys!" Tsuna yelled over the headset. "This isn't some sort of competition you have to win! As long as you guys are alive, I don't care about anything else so _get out of there right now_!" He didn't listen to any of their protests as he tore off the headset and glared at it, desperately resisting the urge to throw it onto the ground. His friends were stupid, why did they feel the need to win against anyone they fought?

"Jy-jyuudaime?" Gokudera looked both concerned and startled by his side. Tsuna forced out a smile for him.

"I'm fine, Gokudera-kun, just a little angry. Our friends were stupidly going to get themselves killed when we could have all escaped together. They should cherish their lives more, can't they see that they are important?"

"I'm… jealous," Gokudera muttered under his breath as he turned to look away. Tsuna managed to catch his words, though, and frowned.

"Jealous? Why are you jealous, Gokudera-kun?" When Tsuna saw that Gokudera was going to deny it, he quickly cut him off. "Please tell me the truth. Aren't we friends?"

"…it's because you care so much about them, because they are so important to you. I, on the other hand… I'm just disposable."

Tsuna was too high strung to be tactful.

"Gokudera-kuuunnnn!" he all but yelled as he grabbed the silver haired boy's shoulder and started to shake vigorously. "You're are _not_ disposable! For goodness' sake, you are precious to me too! It doesn't matter if it's a result of a situation, or an item, or anything, you all are more important to me than any of those! There's only one of you in the entire world and absolutely _no one _can replace you _why can't you idiots see that_?!"

"Jyuudaime…" Gokudera breathed, looking at Tsuna with almost worshipping eyes. It made Tsuna blanch and let go of Gokudera, backing away.

"I'm sorry Gokudera-kun, I don't know what came over me."

"No I… Thank you, Jyuudaime. I couldn't ask for a better boss… and friend." Gokudera smiled shyly, which made Tsuna smile back.

"You feel closer to _Gokudera Hayato_. Your _Gokudera Hayato_ bond has gained a level! You have chosen the _Romance Route_ answer. _Gokudera Hayato_ _Romance Route_ has been activated!"

To Gokudera's alarm, Tsuna suddenly spun around and walked to a corner of the room where he started to cry.

* * *

_Continue? _

_(Yes) (No) _

* * *

**Author's note**

Before I planned out the whole rescue/Varia arc, I was going to put in ring battles like in canon. Gokudera's RR was gonna activate then, so I thought why not now. (Oh man, and he was supposed to be the first to activate too)

Yeah, it's short. Yeah, it's incredibly anticlimactic. I researched on how to write heists, but I couldn't come up with anything so I winged it. Probably was searching in the wrong places.

I probably forgot about a lot of characters while I was writing it. There's too many ahahaha. I know for a fact I forgot of Hibari's existence until I was forming the teams

**Reviews**

_Guest123Life4_ I don't think there's going to be a future arc. It's too complicating for me to even think of touching. Sorry about that. Also, thanks. It's nice to hear that I can make you laugh.

_yuki _This arc will feature characters from the ring conflict, but the conflict in this arc is not about the vongola rings…

I don't know if I've replied to all of you because I miss days on the computer and I can't really remember. I try to check my inbox, though. If you have a question you want me to answer, feel free to ask. I'm not ignoring anyone on purpose, I promise.


	11. Varia, Chapter II

**No fight scenes, dialogue heavy.**

**If you're saying that the Varia went down too quickly… well, bad matchups? Also over-powered kids. (I shall go sit in the mary-sue/gary-stu corner now. I'm sorry.)**

* * *

**Out of the Villa**

They managed to get the chunk of ice back to the villa. Somehow. Chrome, Kyoko, and Mukuro had used their illusions to confound their pursuers and prevent them from finding out where their hideout was. Hamagure knew that they couldn't hide forever, so they decided to unfreeze the man as soon as possible before boarding the first flight back to Namimori, Japan.

"So, how are we going to melt the ice?" Haru asked as she poked at the chunk of ice. Tsuna squinted, trying to see if he could read the words above the man's head, but they seemed to have been obstructed by the ice.

Shouichi examined the ice. "I don't think this is a normal type of ice," he said. "I'm not sure how to melt it."

"Well, we can just buy a bunch of hairdryers and try to melt it like that!" Yamamoto suggested. Tsuna stared at him. To his horror, it seems that his friends were actually considering his idea.

"That's right! If we use direct fire, it might harm the man! Great idea, Yamamoto-kun!" Kyoko exclaimed. Tsuna looked at Hana, and saw that she was two seconds away from hitting her head against the wall. Repeatedly. Tsuna wanted to do that too, but Reborn would probably tell him that it was 'unbefitting of a mafia boss to act in such a manner' and then shoot at him. Tsuna didn't want to get shot at.

* * *

Eager to get away from the general insanity of the entire situation, Tsuna volunteered himself to be the one to buy the hairdryer. And so, armed with a large sum of money, he set off to purchase at least fifty hairdryers. He didn't quite understand Italian, but it was okay. He had written down the phrases he would need to use in his quest, along with a detailed map with the route he was to take clearly marked out with an orange marker. He wouldn't be getting lost this time, not after the amount of work he had put in.

Absentmindedly, he accepted the retrieval quest that flashed in front of him, and froze up. Now that he thought of it, he didn't accept any sort of quest when he went to rescue the frozen man. Shouldn't a rescue quest pop up?

A foreboding feeling started to build within his chest but he quickly shoved it down. It probably was an error or bug in the gaming mechanisms.

Right?

* * *

_Shitshitshitshitshit_.

Tsuna probably should have anticipated his. His friends had broken into a mafia fortress after all. A mafia fortress that was pretty close to the town. It would be obvious that members from that particular famiglia would try to find the perpetrator.

Tsuna had taken one step into the open plaza and immediately walked into a nearby alleyway. There had been many men in suits and all of them had turned, as if they were a single entity, to him, pinning him with a searching stare. Tsuna knew that he couldn't stay hidden forever. Yes, they had worn masks when they broke in, but it definitely wasn't enough.

But what could Tsuna do? If he were to walk out again, he would be noticed.

As Tsuna was panicking, a memory flashed through his mind and it was as if a lightbulb flickered to life above his head.

"Disguise," Tsuna said and an orange window popped up in front of him. He had only one option, seeing that he never really bothered to access the skill, but that was fine. As long as he couldn't be recognized, he wouldn't care even if he needed to dress up as a half-cat in one of those weird animes he glimpsed at on the television.

He pressed the option on the screen and, immediately, his orange hoodie was swapped with an orange sundress and his sneakers with flats. Tsuna double-checked to make sure that his clothes were in his inventory, and his disguise shattered. This probably meant that he couldn't access the inventory with his _Disguise_ skill activated, which was unfortunate. Activating the skill once more, he walked out of the alleyway.

He had learnt from Chrome – and she had learnt from her escape from home – that the best way to not get noticed was to pretend that there was nothing wrong. It… wasn't really working.

As he walked with (faked) confident strides and his head held high, he could sense that a lot of people were looking at him. That wasn't good, could they be suspicious of him? Shit. He couldn't falter now or he would seem even more suspicious!

Nonetheless he quickened his pace. The sooner he got back, the better.

* * *

Fifty hairdryers was a bit too much for a young teenage boy to handle, even with the overpowered game mechanics he had. Of course, he couldn't use the game inventory and that severely reduced that amount of things he could carry. Therefore, he only bought ten. Hopefully it would be enough to thaw the guy. The villa had electricity, right?

A boy around his age stepped out in front of Tsuna, a smile on his face.

"_Would you grab my arm so I can tell my friends I've been touched by an angel?_" he said with a wink. Tsuna stared at him blankly before taking out his list of phrases. Nothing in it came close to what the boy had said. He looked back up at the boy and tilted his head to the side in confusion. The boy chuckled and stepped closer. Tsuna stepped away, but he didn't seem deterred.

"_You must be a hell of a thief because you stole my heart from across the street!_" Again, Tsuna checked the list. This time, he paled. Thief? Stole? Did this guy suspect him?

"N-no," he stuttered out, quickly backpedalling. The boy seemed to brighten at him answer.

"'_Iya'? That's a cute sound! You should get arrested for being so cute!"_

Tsuna started to shake his head vigorously. He quickly consulted his list of phrases. "No," Tsuna told the boy again, but in Italian this time. The boy looked a little disappointed, and stepped forward to say something again. Just then, a familiar voice spoke.

"_When someone says no, they mean no. You shouldn't push them, and you should respect their decision_."

Tsuna whirled around and his eyes widened. He almost spoke, but managed to keep silent.

"_Ah, I see!_" the boy said from behind Tsuna. "_Sorry Mr. Dino!_" He then ran off, leaving Tsuna alone with Dino. Tsuna quickly transferred his gaze to his feet, unwilling to look at Dino lest he accidentally exposed his identity.

"_Are you alright, young lady?_" Dino asked. Tsuna didn't answer him, seeing that he had _absolutely no idea_ what Dino was saying. Dino didn't seem to take any offence to Tsuna's silence, though, and only patted the boy on the head. "_Shy, huh? It's alright, young lady. I'll leave you to your duties!_"

Tsuna only dared to raise his head when he deemed Dino to be a suitable distance away from him, only to pale when he saw that Dino was talking to a suited man. Suddenly, Tsuna was able to understand Italian. Or rather, he was able to understand what Dino and the suited man was talking about due to the subtitles appearing as popups in front of him. How very convenient.

["...and a boy with spiky brown were the thieves. They seem to be Japanese too, judging from the language they spoke."]

["A brown haired Japanese boy… Could it be Tsuna?"] Dino muttered to himself. He then looked at the man in the eye. ["The Cavallone will lend you their support, as always."]

Oh. Tsuna blinked. So Dino was working with the mafia. _Oh_.

And that meant… that meant Dino was their _enemy_. Tsuna… felt numb. He didn't know _what_ to feel.

He looked up at the sky and let out a deep sigh.

"I guess… you really can't trust anyone here, huh?"

* * *

**Iceman**

"Has anyone tried to talk to the man in the ice before?" Hana asked. She and Tsuna were holding hairdryers and pointing it to the chunk of ice. It was doing absolutely nothing, but their friends wanted to continue trying, so here they were.

"No, actually. I don't think so," Tsuna replied. "I guess we should? It must be really lonely and boring in there."

"You can talk to him if you want." Hana rolled her eyes. "I really can't be bothered."

Tsuna shrugged. "Suit yourself."

* * *

"Hello Iceman-san! My name's Sawada Tsunayoshi, but you can call me Tsuna. I hope we can get you out soon; it probably isn't very comfortable in there."

Silence replied Tsuna, but he was fine with that.

* * *

"Iceman-san, you probably don't understand Japanese, do you? Oh well, I hope that my message can still be conveyed to you. We won't give up on you, ever. We've decided to do this, so we'll do this to the very end." A laugh. "Oh, I didn't want to come all the way to Italy at first but my friends are kind of…"

* * *

"Iceman-san, what the hell is this ice made out of? Seriously! We've even thrown it out of a window once and it's not the slightest bit scratched. Oh! Did we apologise for that, though? It was rude of us. When we're safe, you have full permission to shoot at us or something. No promises on not dodging, though."

"You have established a bond with _Xanxus_. Your _Xanxus_ bond is now level one!"

A splutter. "W-w-w-_what_!?"

* * *

**Traps**

They couldn't hide forever; they all had known that.

They did think they would be found sooner, though. Somehow, they were both relieved and disappointed at the same time.

"We took hours to set those traps! _Hours_ and _right after_ we got back from the mansion!" Shouichi whined. "Haru-san, Gokudera-san, and I—" He was interrupted by the loud, reverberating sound of an explosion.

"That was…" Haru began hesitantly. Gokudera nodded.

"Yeah, that was the first trap. They're here."

Reborn turned to Tsuna. "Stay here to unfreeze the man," Reborn said. Tsuna's jaw dropped.

"No way! I need to fight alongside everyone else! I'm not going to just sit back and be…" _useless_. The word was on his tongue but he swallowed it back. He wasn't useless, not like he used to be all those years ago. He was stronger now. He could _fight_. He couldn't just sit back and watch his friends get hurt, not when he could do something about it!

"You have to stay and unfreeze the man, only you can do it," Reborn said cryptically. Tsuna stared at him for a while, at a loss for words.

"It's okay, Tsuna! We'll be fine!" Yamamoto tried to console him. Tsuna sighed.

"Alright," he gave in. "I trust in your skill. But if I see or even _sense_ that you're in danger, I'm going."

* * *

**Divide and… **

The group got separated incredibly quickly. Their enemies had both numbers and skill, and while quite a number of them were caught in the traps there were still a sizeable amount of people left for the group to fight. As usual, Reborn and Daemon both stayed out of the fighting, and stayed out of sight.

Chikusa, Mukuro, and Ken quickly engaged with a group of enemies, but more got past them.

They were stopped short by Hibari.

While the group busied themselves with fighting the literal army of people, five men slipped past them. It was Hana that pointed it out – like she could miss an oddly dressed bunch of people – and a smaller group had to branch off to run after the men.

Which led to them separated and in different parts of the forest outside the villa. Children facing off against adults.

Back in the villa, Tsuna felt a chill roll down his spine.

* * *

**Fighting, Hana being supportive, Haru being terrifying, siblings having their first real fight **

It was like being in a spider's web. There were strings wherever he stepped, and there was nowhere to run without getting ensnared with threads. Terrifyingly sharp wires that could cut him with just a twitch of that blonde's fingers. On top of that, Gokudera still had to watch out for the deadly accurate knives thrown by his enemy.

But that was fine. It could be better, but Gokudera could work with this. He just needed to lure the opponent into the perfect spot and then…

Gokudera pressed a button and the floor crumbled beneath them. The blonde began to fall but Gokudera remained upright, red flames bursting out from under his shoes.

"Ushishishi, you can't keep me here forever. I'll get out eventually," the blonde said. Gokudera ignored him and it appeared to strike a nerve. "Don't ignore me, you commoner!" the blonde yelled. "I'm a prince!" Gokudera looked down at the blonde.

"Your blood doesn't matter in a fight, royalty, Italian, or even a half-blood scum… As long as you can perform, it's fine," Gokudera finally said. He moved away just in time for a net to cover the hole. Hana stepped closer to the hole in order to let their captive see her.

"Wouldn't try to struggle if I were you. The net's been specifically modified by our inventor, so there's no hope of escaping. We'll get you out when we can, though, so don't worry." Her words were curt and unfeeling, as if she was reading off a script. She was about to walk off when Gokudera stopped her.

"Didn't Jyuudaime ask us to give him food and water in case we couldn't free him soon?" Gokudera hissed. Hana rolled her eyes but took out the packages Tsuna had packed.

"They're our enemies," she shot back, not bothering to lower her voice. "Mafia idiots who imprisoned a man in ice and are taking him back into captivity. They don't deserve it."

"Imprisoned a man in ice?!" The blonde at the bottom of the hole seemed shocked. "He's our boss, and you're the ones who took him away from our famiglia!"

"Right. Like we'll believe what you say." Hana dropped the food and water packages into the hole. "We won't let you hurt another innocent man."

Disregarding anything else the man in the hole said, Hana and Gokudera started to walk away. "I didn't think you were so bothered by the mafia harming innocent people," Gokudera admitted. "You seemed so reluctant to come to Italy."

"Yeah, I still am reluctant. I'm not a good person; I look out for myself and the people closer to me before I bother about anyone else. I don't know that iceman at all, so I don't see why you guys want to put your life on the line for him." She shuffled her cards absentmindedly. "But I know what's right and wrong, dammit, and since I'm here, I must as well." She shrugged and then cast a look at Gokudera. "Good job in apprehending the guy. I thought I needed to step in for a moment, but I guessed you had everything under control."

Gokudera scowled at that. "I'm fine. I'm not weak," he muttered as he shoved his hands in his pockets. Hana rolled her eyes.

"I'm not saying that you are, you monkey. Everyone needs a little help at some point and Tsuna would be _pissed_ if you died and I could have prevented it. Also, everyone would go to jail for murder after they go after that guy in the hole." Hana paused when she realised Gokudera had stopped walking.

"They… would?" he asked in a whisper. Hana stared at him for a while and finally _understood_.

"Yeah, they would." She pretended to be nonchalant about the whole thing. "Even I would, and I think you're a monkey. You're one of us now, our friend. You're not leaving us so easily." She felt painfully awkward as she ignored the tears glistening in Gokudera's eyes. With all the people she had talked to and consoled, she felt like the group counsellor, which she most definitely _was not_, and _will not_ be. Not even over her cold, dead body.

"Let's be quick. The others might need our help," she said gruffly and hurried off.

* * *

Yamamoto had thought his father's sword style, the Shigure Souen Ryuu, was invincible. Right after he had that thought, he scolded himself. Of course his father's style was invincible! It was him, the wielder, that wasn't. He wasn't doing the sword style justice and that was why… That was why he was getting beaten by the long haired man in front of him.

Yamamoto quickly used the seventh sword form, Shibuki Ame, to defend himself from the man's attacks. He succeeded, but only barely. Blood dripped from the multiple wounds on his body, and every step he took left a red stain on the grass. His hands shook, but he refused to let go of his sword. If he fell now, this man would move on to the rest of his group and…!

"I can't lose," Yamamoto muttered to himself. His muscles ached with every little movement he made but he refused to show weakness. He couldn't…

"End of the line, brat. I've already told you, I've beaten that style of yours a long time ago." He smirked cruelly as his bloodstained blade glinted. "You can't defeat me." The man shifted his grip on the blade and Yamamoto's eyes widened. Shit, he was going to use that attack again, that one where it seemed that the very air before him was getting chewed away!

Yamamoto couldn't defend against that one!

Before the man could strike, however, there was an ominous green glow from behind him and then electricity coursed through him. Bright, violent, green electricity all but fried his entire body to a crisp and he fell to his knees, revealing a furious Haru standing a few metres behind him. She quickly ran up to the man and repeatedly hit him with her knitting needles, but luckily not stabbing him with them. Each hit released a volt of electricity into his body, and the effect was somewhat comedic. Yamamoto could swear that he saw the man's bones occasionally, as if it were a cartoon.

"You horrible stinking, baby-corrupting, child-killing, mafia poophead!" Haru punctuated each word with a vicious hit. Yamamoto kept wincing and eventually his sympathy for the man prompted him to speak.

"I think you've hit him enough. You wouldn't want to kill him, right? …right?" Yamamoto felt apprehensive when Haru didn't answer straight away. Finally, Haru took out some rope and tied the man up.

"Yeah. I wouldn't. It'll make me the same as them," she muttered. She quickly recovered and turned to Yamamoto with a concerned look. "Is Yamamoto-san okay? Do you need to go swap out with Tsuna-san?" There was a strange undercurrent in her tone that Yamamoto noticed.

"Yeah, I can still fight," he bluffed uncertainly. Haru's eyes glinted.

"Do you _need_ to go swap out with Tsuna-san?" she asked again. Yamamoto gave an awkward chuckle, now knowing that Haru's words weren't a question but an order.

"Yeah." Before he left, however, he asked Haru a question that had been bugging him. "You were with the guy with the umbrellas, right? What did you…" He trailed off when Haru grinned, baring her teeth. "Right then," he said, more to himself than to Haru. "I'm going now." And then he quickly rushed off.

* * *

A fight between illusionists was basically a battle of willpower and creativity. That being said, Chrome didn't lack in willpower.

However, what she had wasn't enough.

_Oh no, I've become trapped in their world!_ She tried to make a shield of mental will around herself, but it was brutally torn down again and again by the other illusionist. An illusionist that took the form of a baby.

This was bad. Even if she knew that person wasn't really a baby, she wasn't able to lay a single hand on the child. Thoughts of the children in Hamagure plagued her mind every time she tried to physically harm the illusionist, stopping her in her tracks. She really couldn't…

"I wonder how much I can sell you for after I'm done with you," the illusionist mused. Chrome tried yet again to take control of the illusionary world, but her will was forcefully pushed aside, and that caused a searing pain to erupt in her mind. Was this… really the end? Was this really all she could do? She couldn't even protect her friends from the enemy…

"God, I _hate_ kids." A familiar voice cut through the illusionary world and someone stepped up beside Chrome, laying a hand on her shoulder. Chrome's eyes widened and she whirled around to see Hana standing beside her, shuffling her deck of cards.

"H-Hana-san!" she squeaked out. Hana shot her a look and she quickly amended her words. "H-Hana-chan, what are you doing here?"

"To help you, of course. This guy's probably crazy strong, so we need all the help we can get right now." Hana narrowed her eyes as she threw a card in a seemingly random direction. Chrome knew better, though. Hana had somehow managed to see through the illusions to where the other illusionist was.

"Impressive." The cloaked illusionist faded into view. "Your will is strong, but can it stand against—" They were interrupted by more of Hana's cards before they could say more.

"Dammit, reality is already incredibly messed up! I don't need you people to warp it even more!" she yelled as the cards immediately burst into violent red flames. The illusionist dodged and floated up even higher. Hana growled. "And come down, you're defying the laws of gravity!" She threw some more cards, which were dodged yet again.

"Irritating babies," she hissed to herself. "I reject your reality!" Chrome's eyes widened yet again at Hana's words. They was the key! She didn't need to overwhelm the other illusionist's world, she just needed to reject it, like what Hana was doing. Chrome closed her eyes and concentrated. When she opened them again, they were back in the forest. She nodded to herself. Right, so she couldn't use her illusions, or it would be overwhelmed like before. She wasn't a one-trick pony, though, and had plenty of other moves up her sleeve.

She tore the pendant off her neck and channelled her flames through them. The hidden mechanism inside the pendant reacted with her unique flames, and the pendant transformed into a trident. The other illusionist scoffed at that.

"What are you going to do with an illusionary weapon?" they scoffed. Neither Chrome nor Hana deigned to tell them that the weapon was very, very real.

"I won't let you harm my friends!" Chrome said resolutely. It was a promise she made to herself.

Not bothering to hear the other illusionist's answer, Chrome charged ahead and swung her trident, trying to gain more information on the illusionist's battle skills. The illusionist dodged out of the way, just as she expected them to.

"Mu… An illusionist who resorts to hand-to-hand combat? What sacrilege!" they yelled, deeply offended by Chrome's acts. Hana smirked.

"Ah, so that means illusionist are shit when it comes to physical battles, yeah?" she chuckled. "Thanks for the info, you _brat_." She rushed forward as well. When the illusionist rose up into the air, Hana followed with her flame boots. This made them panic and try to weave an illusion to deter Hana.

It didn't work in the slightest.

"Stop trying to distort my reality!" she growled as her hand grabbed onto the top of the illusionist's head like a claw machine. The illusionist struggled and writhed, and started to spew curses at Hana. Hana paid them no attention as she slowly descended to where Chrome was waiting for her. The younger girl had a rope in her hands that had a strange indigo pattern all over it.

"Are you sure this will work? I know that Daemon-san said it could restrain even him if he was caught off guard but…" She bit her lip. Hana nodded and held out the illusionist, hand still grabbing on the top of their head, to Chrome. Chrome began to tie the illusionist up.

"Oh, get the frog-snake-thing, too," Hana reminded. "It's probably something like Reborn's devil of a chameleon." Chrome nodded.

"Reborn?" the illusionist seemed shocked. "You know Reborn?" Hana didn't answer them, so Chrome did.

"Yes," she said curtly, but didn't provide them with any more information, even when they got angry.

"Oh, and Chrome?" Hana suddenly spoke. Startled, Chrome glanced up at Hana. The older girl was giving her a proud smirk, making her blush. "You did well."

Chrome's blush deepened in colour. "Thanks," she whispered.

* * *

Kyoko was arguing with her brother while his opponent, an oddly dressed man in sunglasses, lay unconscious a good distance away. He had been tied up, which was why the siblings were bickering so freely.

"A real man doesn't need his younger sister to protect him! He's supposed to protect her instead!" Ryohei said.

"Well, I'm protecting you, and that's final! I even knocked that guy out for you!" Kyoko refuted.

"I didn't need your protection."

"You were going to _die_!"

"I could have handled it!" Ryohei insisted stubbornly.

"You and your damned pride!" Kyoko glared back at Ryohei.

"Um… is this a bad time?" Tsuna landed beside him in a flurry of orange flames.

"Yes!" they yelled back at him, making him shriek.

"Hiieee! Okay, okay, I'll take Luss- the man somewhere else!" he squeaked.

The siblings continued their argument.

* * *

"Alright," Tsuna said into the headset. "I think that's all of them, Shouichi-senpai."

"That's great, Tsuna," Shouichi replied. "Make your way back into the villa and help treat the group's wounds. Mukuro and Ken... they're the only ones that are able to treat people right now. Except for me, of course."

Tsuna laughed. "All right, I'm on it."

He turned to move back into the mansion, and froze.

"Dino-san…"

* * *

**Clashing Skies**

Dino had a pained expression on his face. "I didn't want to believe that you were one of them, Tsuna," Dino said. "How could you?" Tsuna tried to speak, but no words came out. "Are you being forced to do this? I can help you get out of this mess."

"This isn't a mess. They're my friends."

"Your friends? Are you sure that they're not… just using you?" Dino looked worried. "You're a good kid, Tsuna, I know that. You've just fallen into a bad crowd. I can protect you, if you want."

"Shut up!" Tsuna hissed as he glared at Dino. "I'm not going to let you badmouth my friends like that! I don't need your protection either!" Tsuna tugged on his gloves and Dino pulled out his whip.

"I don't want to do this, Tsuna. Please, reconsider?" Dino tried one last time. Tsuna narrowed his eyes.

"You won't trick me. I won't fall for it, you won't break my trust again."

"Break your trust… what do you—" Tsuna interrupted him by trying to aim a kick towards his face. Dino dodged, and something in Tsuna's mind told him to _move_. He used his flames to propel him upwards, just in time to avoid getting shot. Shit, he had totally overlooked Romario once again.

This was going to be a tough battle, and not just physically.

* * *

Dino was good, as expected of someone in the mafia. Tsuna was having a hard time keeping up. Still, he wasn't going to lose! If only he had something that could immobilise the whip. Maybe something like that horrible ice the iceman – Xanxus? Was that his name? – had been encased in. As he had that thought, something happened. Something no one expected.

The small wisps of flames around Tsuna suddenly crystallised and dropped to the ground. Tsuna stared. Dino stared. Even Romario stared.

"_What…?_" Dino muttered to himself.

"Ice?" Tsuna sounded somewhat hysterical. A popup appeared in front of him.

[Active skill: _Zero Point Breakthrough, First Edition_ has been created!]

Wait, there was more than one edition?! Was it like a skill tree? Did he have to max out the first edition to get to the second edition? And what would the second edition even _do_?

These game mechanics were really giving him a headache.

Another big question was why there was suddenly the Roman numeral for one on the back of his glove. He stared at it for a while before shaking his head vigorously. He could ponder about the mysteries of his life later on. He had to knock Dino and Romario out right now!

Tsuna quickly dropped to the ground and coated the ground around him with a thin layer of his orange flames, after which he activated his newly learnt skill and turned it all into smooth, slippery ice. This prompted his opponents into actions, as they started to try and attack Tsuna again. However, the newly frozen floor adversely affected their balance and they had to spend a few short moments to adapt to their new environment.

These short moments of inactivity was all Tsuna needed.

With a boost from his flames, Tsuna quickly shot forward to knock Romario out. A beat passed and he knocked Dino out as well. Tsuna gave a sigh of relief once it was all over. The outcome of the battle was basically due to luck and taking his opponents off guard. They seemed to be pulling their punches as well, which made Tsuna both grateful and annoyed. He still wasn't strong enough to be able to properly defend his friends… but he could see his improvement and that was enough for now.

Tsuna carefully lowered himself onto the ground, not wanting to use up all of his flames. Seeing that he could turn his flames into ice, he had a new theory regarding iceman's ice prison. He couldn't wait to tell the others.

He took one step towards the villa and slipped on the ice.

"Hiiiiieeee!"

* * *

_Continue?  
_

_(Yes) (No)_

* * *

**Author's note: **

**Fight outcome explanations**

Gokudera: He was in an ideal, familiar playing field for him and there was no external factors (i.e. TURBULENT WIND THINGS). He's also much stronger than in canon, considering that he's undergoing flame and Reborn training. I don't know, he almost won in the canon Varia arc, right?

Yamamoto: He didn't get beaten by anyone yet, so the drive to learn isn't quite there. Canon Yamamoto was so strong because he pretty much trained religiously, non-stop, so he wouldn't lose again. He didn't have the same motivation here. It's also earlier than it is in canon Varia arc. I just… think he needed a wake-up call as to how serious this whole thing is in this fic. (Also I see that the Shigure style is heavily reliant on water and… this is a forest. No water.)

Haru: My headcanon is that she's a genius at anything she puts her mind to. She also has the drive to learn, since she was one of the three that were kidnapped in Italy. Add on with how furious she was with Levi (and everyone in general), well… And it's kind of my dream to see Haru curbstomping people. I think she has the potential. (While on that topic, Kyoko _might_ be able to curbstomp, but it's relative. Chrome and Hana, however, cannot. In my headcanon at least. What do you think?)

Hana: She has super strong willpower, and a very solid grasp on reality and her own mental image. Very well-adjusted. Large-scale/unsubtle illusions have no effect on her. Subtle ones will still catch her off guard, though. Also, Kyoko's her best friend.

Chrome: Mammon is an arcobaleno. Chrome's not at that power… yet. Still pretty good, though, to be able to hold out as long as she did. (Hana came to her after she helped Gokudera.)

Ryohei: No maximum canon. No specialized tutelage from an arcobaleno.

Kyoko: Illusion skills close to Mukuro's level. Probably. Very… unique imagination.

**Others**

Sorry for the late everything. It's been a hectic few weeks. I got chosen to be part of the musical and 20 people were supposed to show up. Only 10 did on the first meeting and… well, they're only 5 of us left. I got saddled with the main role and scriptwriter role, and it's going to be a musical so I have to write lyrics too I wanna die. At least the people who remained are super helpful… we haven't even started on our props yet orz. It's going to be in May too! Argh. Sorry for the rant.

**Reviews**

_Whooperwillow_ Yeah he is. Hopefully our main characters won't suffer much harm.

_Dandelion head_ Well, the whole Gamer trope isn't mind to begin with. It already exists in the Naruto fandom, if I'm not wrong. If Gamer fics start to show in KHR after mine, well. It's like I got the ball rolling, yeah? And yes, I am okay with people using the Gamer trope. I'm not okay if they copy ideas from me without asking me first, though. (And senpai? Me? Wow...)

_lazytologin_ i wanna know how I'll go about with their meeting too haha.

_Kari_ Tsuna's not ending up with anyone. Sorry about that. It's better this way, ahah.

_Prince_ I have a somewhat soft spot for Squalo27, not gonna lie. But I've only read, like, two fics about them. I'll try to do my best for that and R27 and X27!

_Guest 13/3_ Daemon can't meet Timoteo yet! Timoteo would probably get a heart attack or something. And, as you've probably seen, they aren't getting out of Italy with a block of ice...

_Kat_ Thanks! I'm glad to hear that!


	12. Varia, Chapter III

**Newton's Third Law**

"So a large and sudden amount of flames would be able to melt the ice… probably," Shouichi theorised after Tsuna told him of his discovery. Tsuna kind of knew where this was going.

"Melt the ice, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn told him. His suspicions had been right.

With a sigh, he moved to face the ice and outstretched his hands in front of him, frowning on concentration.

"Are you ready?" Shouichi asked Tsuna. Tsuna nodded.

"I'm ready."

Orange bled into brown and a flame flickered to life on top of Tsuna's head. Tsuna channelled all the flames he could spare to his hands and towards the chunk of ice. There was a blinding flash of orange for less than a second before a loud – and rather alarming – sound of glass shattering was heard. The flames stopped abruptly and Tsuna was gone, the window behind him broken.

If people were quick and observant enough, they would be able to see Tsuna's silhouette disappearing over the horizon as he shrieked in fear.

At least the ice had melted.

* * *

**Confusion**

When Tsuna had dragged his exhausted – both physically and flame-wise – self back to the villa, he was met with the very odd sight of Dino getting mauled by Reborn. The odd part of the sight was that it felt familiar to Tsuna, almost as if he was looking at _himself_ and Reborn. Before he could make the connection, however, his attention was taken away by the sight of their prisoners walking around freely.

Weren't they supposed to be their enemies?

Yamamoto was following Squalo around, a sword in his hand and jabbering non-stop. Squalo looked rather tempted to murder him, but something was keeping him for dealing out physical harm. Lussuria and Haru were talking about things while Chrome and Kyoko were talking to the baby named… Viper? Mammon? The words kept flickering back and forth as if there was a glitch. It probably wasn't a glitch, though. He hoped. He really did.

He _really_ didn't want to acknowledge the possibility of glitches in the gaming system because that would mean acknowledging the possibility of glitches in his_ reality_.

Squalo caught sight of Tsuna and immediately marched up to him. "The boss is looking for you," he said.

"Uh, okay?" he replied unsurely. Who was their boss? Had Tsuna met them before? Squalo nodded stiffly and spun around, walking back to the building. Tsuna supposed Squalo was expecting Tsuna to follow. Yamamoto was still happily trailing behind Squalo and Tsuna had to wonder about his self-preservation skills.

* * *

**Lies**

Their boss was called Xanxus. He had been the man in the ice.

Tsuna felt a little betrayed.

"You tossed me out of a window," were the first words Xanxus said to Tsuna.

"The person who told you that is a filthy liar," Tsuna immediately replied. There was no way he was admitting that fact. Xanxus looked unamused and unimpressed.

"I was aware of my surroundings when I was in the ice," Xanxus said flatly, destroying Tsuna's lie in a matter of seconds.

Well then.

* * *

**Giving Hope**

"Trash," Xanxus began, holding a glass full of wine in his hand. Tsuna wondered where the wine came from, considering that literally everyone in Hamagure was physically underage and Daemon was a _ghost_.

"Yes, sir?" Tsuna was cautious. This guy was the boss of their powerful ex-enemies and that itself said a lot about him.

"I… owe a debt to you," he said slowly and painfully, as if forcing the words out of himself through willpower alone. Tsuna blinked, a little confused? A debt? For throwing him out of the window? Before Tsuna could further analyse the strangeness of Xanxus' words, Reborn popped out of nowhere.

"Good job for acquiring another ally, Dame-Tsuna. You're one step closer to becoming a Mafia boss." Tsuna whirled around to face Reborn.

"I'm _not_ going to be a Mafia boss, thank you very much," Tsuna retorted on pure instinct. He immediately turned back to Xanxus and gave a sheepish smile, feeling like he was obligated to explain himself to Xanxus.

"Sorry, Reborn's trying to force me to become a Mafia boss. I don't really want to, though," he told Xanxus.

"Not just any Mafia boss, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn interjected, hopping onto Tsuna's shoulder. "You're going to be the Vongola Decimo."

The wine glass in Xanxus' hand got crushed and Tsuna received an avalanche of popups from his _Sense Killing Intent_ skills, making him repress a shriek of fear.

"X-xanxus-san?" he squeaked out, a note of hysteria in his voice. "W-what's wrong?" He took a step closer to the man. "Are you okay?"

"You don't have any right to be Vongola Decimo, scum," Xanxus hissed out. "That title is rightfully mine!"

Tsuna stared at him. Xanxus stared back, almost daring for Tsuna to challenge his words. For the first time in forever, Tsuna felt hope blossoming within him. Slowly, he pointed at Xanxus. The man tensed up, ready to move at a moment's notice, when…

"You see Reborn? THERE'S AN HEIR RIGHT HERE! RIGHT HERE! I DON'T NEED TO BE A MAFIA BOSS ANYMORE, HALLELUJAH! I'M FREE—" Tsuna was cut off when he had to dodge a bullet Reborn shot at him. He made a break for the door but before he could even touch the doorknob, Reborn caught him.

Xanxus was very confused about Tsuna's words and wanted to ask him about it, but decided to drop the matter since Reborn was beating Tsuna up. The boy wouldn't be able to answer any of his questions in that state, anyway.

* * *

**Dinner**

It was dinner time so everyone was uncomfortably gathered at the dining room. One second passed before Hibari just picked up his plate and walked out of the room. Tsuna took this as a cue to start eating, and everyone else followed him. Mammon – that name stayed above their head longer than Viper, so Tsuna was going to call them that – left as well in a burst of indigo flames. Xanxus was drinking more wine than eating, and Mukuro was stabbing his food with a fork whilst laughing creepily. Gokudera glared at anything that moved, as did Leviathan. There probably wasn't a dinner Tsuna had ever been to that was more awkward than this one.

"I'm curious, how did you know about boss being stuck in the Vongola mansion?" Squalo asked. Hamagure exchanged looks, unsure of how they were going to explain Daemon Spade's existence.

"You see, there's this ghost…" Shouichi began.

"He kind of looks like Mukuro, by the way," Tsuna added. This made Mukuro gasp in offence.

"He does _not_!" Mukuro protested. Gokudera bristled.

"Don't interrupt Jyuudaime when he's talking!" Gokudera yelled. In childish retaliation, Mukuro threw his food at Gokudera.

"Food fight!" someone yelled out excitedly and the dining room soon became a battlefield.

"How the hell did they defeat us?" he heard someone else ask. Silently, he picked up his plate and walked out of the room to eat. He should have done that from the very beginning.

* * *

**Outburst**

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, huh?" Lussuria mused. "Any relation to our Sawada Iemitsu?"

"…" There was a loud crash as Tsuna dropped the box of hairdryers he held in his hands. The entire room turned to stare at Tsuna, who had been frozen in place. Slowly, Tsuna began to shake. An oppressive air slammed down onto everyone, nearly knocking the air out of them.

"J-Jyuudaime?" Gokudera was the only one brave (and stupid) enough to try and approach Tsuna.

And as suddenly as it appeared, the oppressive air was lifted and Tsuna _smiled_.

"Ah, so he's still alive?" Tsuna asked cheerfully, picking up the box easily as if nothing had happened. "I thought he had… 'become a star'." The scent of singed plastic and wood started to permeate the air. A faint smoke seemed to rise from Tsuna's grasp on the box. "But he's actually…" His grip tightened as his voice dropped to a whisper. "Part of the Vongola _mafia_ family?"

The box burst into destructive orange flames. In less than a second, everything was burnt to a crisp and there was nothing left. Not even ashes.

"You've got to be _kidding_ me," Tsuna hissed.

"Are we going to storm Vongola now?" Mukuro asked hopefully. Tsuna whirled around to face Mukuro, eyes still blazing in rage.

"Damn right we ar—" He suddenly cut himself off and the inferno in his eyes was quickly tempered down. "No. Absolutely not. We'll die. No way." He shook his head rapidly. Mukuro pouted, but Tsuna wasn't done. "We're going to _talk_ to Vongola, both to the current boss and to… my father."

For some reason, nearly everyone in the room stepped away from the boy.

* * *

**Rings I**

"Still no information on Xanxus?" Iemitsu asked.

"None," Tumeric confirmed. Iemitsu sighed in frustration. Just _why_ did they kidnap Xanxus? What could they gain from it?

"Master!" Basil looked like he was at the end of his rope. "The Vongola rings… they're missing!"

"_What?!_" Iemitsu's eyes widened. First Xanxus had gone missing, and now half of the Vongola rings were stolen. This could be a coincidence…

But that was unlikely. Iemitsu cursed; it seemed that the situation was more serious than they had thought.

* * *

"Daemon what the hell," Tsuna said flatly, staring at the box the ghost had dropped onto his lap. "What's this?"

"Nufufu, they're the Vongola rings, Primo Jr.," he said just as everyone else entered the dining room for lunch. The Varia immediately zeroed in on Daemon.

"…" the Varia said.

Reborn walked into the dining room after that, expression grave. "Dame-Tsuna," he began. His eyes immediately fell on the box in Tsuna's hands and all emotion was wiped off his face. Tsuna hastily dropped the box and pointed to Daemon.

"He did it," Tsuna quickly said.

Reborn closed his eyes and sighed.

* * *

**Fathers**

This week had been a bad week for Vongola. Firstly, Xanxus had been kidnapped, ice and all. Secondly, the Varia members that had gone after the kidnappers still weren't back. Thirdly, both halves of the Vongola rings had gone missing. Lastly, the ninth had gone missing right under his guardian's nose that very morning. Vongola was now in an uproar as they desperately tried to find out what was going on and tried to keep their problems a secret from the rest of the world at the same time.

Iemitsu was exhausted at it wasn't even mid-day yet.

He rounded the corner, about to go into another meeting with the ninth's guardians, when something hit him on the back of his head and his world went black.

* * *

"_Must_ we do it this way?"

"Yes we do."

"But it's so… _dramatic_."

"That's why we're doing it, Primo Jr."

Iemitsu's eyes snapped open and he tried to move. He couldn't. As he grew more aware of his surroundings, he found out that he was literally encased in ice. Beside him was the ninth who was also as awake and confused as he was. In front of them a figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Hello dad."

"T-Tsu-kun?!" Iemitsu spluttered.

"Your son has grown up to be a fine man, Iemitsu," Timoteo commented. Tsuna's eyes flickered to him and he tilted his head to the side.

"Have we met before?" Before Timoteo could answer, Tsuna shook his head. "Never mind, it doesn't matter right now. This meeting is held—"

"To talk about your bad Father Skills!" a mysterious voice interrupted. It made Timoteo and Iemitsu's hair stand on end, almost every cell in them screaming that this was an unknown element, a powerful person that they did not want to go against. And it was very, _very_ familiar. Tsuna didn't seem as affected as them, though, as he whirled around to face the shadows.

"Stop interfering, you stupid ghost!" he yelled out. A snicker was heard but it quickly died off as the gloves on Tsuna's hands started to glow ominously. With a great big sigh, Tsuna turned back to the two men who were in ice.

"You," he pointed at Timoteo, "are the Vongola Nono. You," he shifted to point at Iemitsu, "are the Head of the CEDEF, whatever that is. Both of you have a share in deciding who the heir of Vongola is. So…" He took a deep breath and the two men waited for him to finish speaking. "Why did you choose me as the heir?!"

"You are the only candidate—"

"That's _bullshit_!" Tsuna yelled. "I mean, come _on_. I'm _Dame-Tsuna_! Even Reborn called me that when he came, which means it was on whatever weirdo notes you gave him because you guys definitely sent him and that means you know I'm _dame_! Is there seriously no other heir? What about Xanxus-san, huh? He wants to be Vongola Decimo and he's the ninth's own son! Why can't _he_ be the Decimo? Why does it have to be me?"

"You are the only candidate—"

"Did you not hear what I just said?!" Tsuna's voice raised to a shriek and he winced. Quickly composing himself a little, he continued, "What about Xanxus-san? From what I've seen, he'll be a much better mafia boss than me."

"Candidates need to have the blood of the Vongola within them or they will be rejected," the ninth said tiredly. Tsuna narrowed his eyes.

"Xanxus is your _son_," Tsuna said slowly. "Shouldn't he have your blood? Unless…" Realisation dawned on him unpleasantly, and he grimaced. "You're kidding me."

"I am not," the ninth said solemnly. Tsuna buried his face in his hands and let out a scream that lasted for five seconds.

"My life is _not_ just a game," he hissed to himself. "It is also a drama, a _show_ for people to watch and laugh at." Tsuna gave himself another five seconds to seethe quietly before shoving his anger to a part of his mind and temporarily locked it up. He had more important things to do right now. Clearing his throat, he looked back up at the ninth and his father. "I'm not even going to bother to ask why such a large organisation has such an archaic method of inheritance. And I'm not going to give up. But for now, let's move on to the matter of my birthday."

The ninth and Iemitsu stared at him blankly, confused by the sudden change in topic.

"For my birthday, I want something that's pretty hard to get. But you guys can get it for me, right?" Tsuna smiled and, for some reason, it made a chill go down the two men's spines.

"A-anything within reason, Tsu-kun," his father said nervously.

"Of course it's within reason!" Tsuna slowly stepped towards his dad, stopping right in front of him. Iemitsu gulped. "I just want you back home with mum for at least two weeks." He turned his head to face the ninth, still smiling that bright, somehow eerie, smile. "That won't be too hard, _right_?"

The men were unable to answer until the question finally sank into their minds, after which they chuckled in relief. So _that's_ what Tsunayoshi was asking for! They were worried for a moment.

"Ah, sorry Tsu-kun! Papa's really busy and doesn't have time to go home right now. Maybe later?" Iemitsu said with a smile. Tsuna's own smile immediately dropped and his gaze sharpened.

"I wasn't asking for permission to bring you home. I was _telling_ you that I'd bring you home. Game menu, items." Without missing a beat, Tsuna picked up the ice block containing Iemitsu and shoved him into the inventory. He then closed the menu, bringing everything around him back to normal. The ninth gaped at the place Iemitsu used to be.

"Tsuna—" he began, but Tsuna was already walking to the door. Just before he left, however, he paused.

"Vongola Nono, you've got your own family issues to take care of, so stay out of mine."

With that, he left the room. Almost immediately after, someone who was bound and gagged got tossed into the room.

"…Xanxus?"

"Mmmfmmm!" Xanxus replied angrily. The door quickly shut and the click of the lock was heard.

"…"

"…"

It was the calm before the storm. And then…

* * *

Outside of the room, Tsuna looked worriedly at Haru. "Are you sure that this would be able to hold them?" Tsuna asked. Haru grinned confidently.

"Hahi! Of course I'm sure!" She pumped her fist. "Haru worked with Shouichi-san and used Tsuna-san's ice plus Haru and Levi-san's flames to strengthen and surround the walls. It'll be fine! This should hold out until Xanxus-san works out his frustration to his horrible father."

"…I sure hope so. Or Xanxus-san will be coming after me."

* * *

**Mystery of the Pot**

It took a while, but Xanxus and the ninth were able to leave the room by sundown. Tsuna offered to unfreeze the ninth, but Xanxus refused so Tsuna decided to leave things be. To be honest, he had more pressing things to worry about.

Like the reason why there were suddenly pots all over the place.

It started the evening he had entered his current room. It looked exactly as he had left it, but there was a pot placed on the table. It looked rather expensive but still should blend in with the décor of the room. Still, it just seemed to… stand out in a way that Tsuna couldn't exactly describe. He gingerly picked it up to inspect it, going so far as to stick his hand into the pot to see if there was anything inside. There was nothing.

The door to the room suddenly slammed open, causing Tsuna to shriek and drop the pot. It fell to the floor with a loud crash and broken shards of it scattered all over the ground. Trembling, Tsuna turned to Reborn and waited for the inevitable.

"Why are you so scared, Dame-Tsuna? Have you done something that I wouldn't like?"

"Hiiiee! Reborn, I— wait." Tsuna blinked as he processed Reborn's words. Hadn't… hadn't Reborn seen him break the pot? It fell right in front of his eyes! Or was it that Reborn didn't notice the existence of the pot as all?

"No. It's nothing, Reborn," Tsuna eventually said. Reborn squinted at him suspiciously, but ultimately decided not to call Tsuna out on his obvious lie.

"You will come down for dinner in ten minutes," Reborn told Tsuna and then left. Tsuna waited until he was somewhat sure Reborn was gone before looking down at the mess he had made. Except, there was no mess; the broken pieces of the pot were gone, as if they had never existed in the first place. The only evidence left on the ground was a shiny orange… thing. Tsuna wasn't quite sure what it was, apart from the fact that it was shiny.

He picked it up. He didn't know what else to do.

Immediately, an orange screen flickered before him just as the shiny thing vanished.

[You have gained thirty euros!]

"…"

Tsuna left the room.

* * *

He resolutely ignored the pots that had suddenly appeared around the house, trying his best to shove their existence to the back of his mind until he re-entered his room to see the pot sitting innocently on the table.

_It respawned?!_

* * *

**Rings II**

Tsuna was ranting.

"I _still_ can't get over the fact that you need relations to the Vongola _Primo_ in order to become a boss. What the hell?! What if the boss is impotent and doesn't have any siblings? Will the family just die out or what?"

"I would like to note that Primo never put this ridiculous rule into place. Actually, neither did he know that the Vongola rings would reject candidates who weren't blood related," Daemon said. Tsuna just _looked_ at Daemon without a word.

"What _are_ the Vongola rings, anyway?" Tsuna asked. Daemon smirked, happy to show off his knowledge. He then started a very long lecture about the history of the rings, how the Vongola Primo first got them, how the bosses chose their guardians, so on and so forth. Tsuna tuned him out after the first twenty minutes, choosing to examine the rings and nod occasionally until Daemon was done speaking.

"That's… nice…" Tsuna said absentmindedly.

"Oh, that reminds me." Daemon tossed another box to Tsuna. It hit Tsuna in the face before falling perfectly into his outstretched arms. Tsuna opened the box without a word to see another set of rings in it.

"What are these, then?" Tsuna asked curiously.

"Nufufu, those? They're the Vongola rings, of course."

"…" Tsuna narrowed his eyes and took out another box. "But aren't these the Vongola rings too?"

"Yes. Both are halves of a whole. Primo wanted the rings to be properly passed down, so he sealed them into this form. Then the later generations didn't want the Vongola to fall into the hands of anyone too bad—"

"Too late for that," Tsuna muttered.

"—and so they became the half-Vongola rings. One given to Vongola itself, and the other given to the outside adviser, CEDEF," Daemon continued smoothly, ignoring Tsuna's interjection.

"That's a lot of fail safes," Tsuna noted. Daemon shrugs.

"It's the Vongola. Now, Primo Jr., just fit the two sky rings together. Yes, it's the one in the middle of both boxes. And then wear it." Tsuna naively did as Daemon asked him to without question, slipping the ring onto his finger.

"I'm done. Now what?"

"Now, you die." Daemon grinned mischievously as he stabbed Tsuna in the chest.

* * *

**Strength**

When Tsuna woke up, there were a lot of people surrounding him. Daemon was nowhere to be found, which was fortunate. For the ghost, of course, considering what Tsuna planned to do to him once he found the damned spirit.

Daemon was a dead man walking. Well, a _dead_ dead man walking.

"Jyuudaime!" Gokudera's relieved voice pierced the silence, making everyone instantly crowd around him even more. Almost everyone from Hamagure was there… actually, was that Hibari and Mukuro he was seeing in the corner? Were they seriously _here_ to check up on him?

Tsuna felt so loved.

"Tsuna, what happened?" Reborn asked, black eyes gleaming menacingly. To Tsuna's relief, the anger Reborn had wasn't directed towards him.

"Um, Daemon asked me to put one of the rings together, and then wear it. After that, he…" Tsuna paused before quickly looking down his shirt. There were no bandages. There weren't even wounds! Tsuna sighed tiredly. "After that," he continued. "Daemon decided to make me think that he stabbed me. It made me black out and…" Tsuna trailed off and lifted his hand to squint at the ring he was wearing.

"Tsuna?"

"Did one of the Vongola bosses _really_ use a fork to fight?" Tsuna asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice. Reborn stilled.

"You underwent the trial," Xanxus stated. Tsuna jerked in surprise, not expecting the man to be in the room.

"The trial…?" Tsuna sat up to look at Xanxus. "Was that what it was? It was really weird. There were a bunch of people who claimed to be Vongola bosses surrounding me in a circle and chanting 'Join us'."

"…"

"…I was joking. They just asked me to give in to the greatness of Vongola, and to accept its _disgusting_ sins." Tsuna's tone went a little dark for a while, but it was only for a moment, so many dismissed it as a figment of their imagination. "They _did_ say I passed, although I really don't know how. I literally told them that I'd rather destroy the entire Vongola than inherit it and then suddenly everyone's smiling. What was up with that?" Tsuna wrinkled his nose in confusion.

"You feel closer to Rokudo Mukuro. Your Rokudo Mukuro bond has gained a level!"

_Figures that Mukuro would like that. _

"The ring has accepted you." Xanxus seemed strangely muted. It made Tsuna feel bad.

"If you want, we can be co-bosses? Or you can be the actual boss; I'll fight anyone who disagrees. _Yes_ this includes you, Gokudera-kun." _As long as I don't need to be a mafia boss, there's probably nothing I wouldn't do. Accept it, Xanxus-san!_

"Heh." Xanxus gave a dry laugh. "I don't need your pity, trash."

"It's _not_ pity—"

"I'm fine with being the boss of the Varia. I wouldn't want half-assed power over Vongola, anyway. That being said…" He suddenly pinned Tsuna to the spot with an intense glare from his red eyes, making Tsuna squeak. "If you ever lead the Vongola into ruin, I'll _kill_ you."

"…" Tsuna could only nod for he was too terrified to do anything else.

Reborn tugged his fedora down to obscure his face. "I'm happy that you're finally accepting your role as a mafia boss, Dame-Tsuna," he said. Tsuna immediately grimaced.

"I'm not going to be a mafia boss, Reborn. How many times have I told you?" He blinked and his look turned contemplative. "I don't mind being Vongola Decimo, though."

Seeing Tsuna, Reborn couldn't help but feel like he seemed a little stronger than how he had been before going through the Vongola boss trial. He supposed he had Daemon to thank for that.

Reborn still wasn't going to let Daemon come near Tsuna for a _very_ long time, though.

* * *

_Continue?_

_(Yes) (No)_

* * *

**Author's note**

I know I've said before that I don't really remember character appearances but. I forgot what colour Xanxus' eyes were? I legit had to go look up pictures for him.

Also, I've dug myself into a hole because I DON'T KNOW HOW TO MEND DINO AND TSUNA'S RELATIONSHIP OH NO (I really liked their relationship in canon what have I don't what am i)

this is short. i know. i'm sorry.

**Reviews**

_ScarletKnight_ more stories like what? Like gamer stories or…?

_TooLazyToLogin_ ! Shinigami eyes!Tsuna is a wonderful idea! Although full of angst…

_SD_ That's… pretty interesting. I'll look into that, thanks! (It's a wonderful idea!)

_lackadaisical _it died but it got REBORN WITH ITS DYING WILL

_Anonymoushica_ You've got to admit, that's a Tsuna reaction. Who would think that someone's flirting with them? Especially after just committing a crime? Thank you!

_Toolazytologin_ No one knows what happened right after Xanxus was unfrozen. Not even me. Anyway, I'm not too sure how to unlock Xanxus' romance route (or even advance his bond) without making him ooc. ;w; I'll try though. And Tsuna would get hit on by guys even if he didn't crossdress.

_Guest_ Yeah, Haru will be taking Lambo's role in any lightning guardian things.


	13. Varia, Add-on Content

**READ THIS FIRST **

**The story update was the previous chapter. This is just the add-ons I've posted on my tumblr. Thank you. **

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_Load Add-On Content?_

_[(Yes)] (No)_

_Loading…_

* * *

**Inheritance Arc**

Daemon surveyed Tsuna's chosen guardians. Gokudera glared back defiantly, Yamamoto appeared distracted with something, Ryohei didn't seem to know what was going on, Haru was playing with Lambo, Hibari was no where to be found, and Mukuro was smirking. Just smirking. It made Tsuna want to run out of the room and for cover. However, he refrained from doing so as he could feel Reborn staring at him. From where? He didn't know.

"These are your… guardians," Daemon said. Tsuna gave him a strained smile.

"Yeah. They are." He waited. One second, two seconds, three…

"I am aware that I said I wouldn't comment on your chosen guardians but–!" Daemon pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "There were others with the same flames, were there not? Others whom I have approved of."

Tsuna shrugged, careful to keep a neutral face. "I like them. And besides." Tsuna started listing off Daemon's and his first choices. "Hana wants to be a lawyer. Also, she said she'd rather go to jail than have to be responsible for a whole group of monkeys. Kyoko wants to focus on being a private investigator, so she won't have time to be a guardian. Haru still wants to be a fashion designer, but at least she agreed to help out until Lambo can take care of himself. Irie doesn't feel too comfortable being a guardian. Hey, at least Chrome's a part-time guardian! She's still going into showbiz, though. I think Mukuro talked her into showing up her mother." The two of them turned to look at Mukuro but he was pretending that he couldn't hear them.

"Alright, I accept your explanation." Daemon looked like he swallowed something sour. "But why… _that pineapple_ of all people? Surely you could talk Dokuro Chrome into becoming a full time guardian for you!"

"Yeah, sure I can. But-" Whatever Tsuna was going to say had been interrupted by Mukuro suddenly stabbing Daemon with a trident. Or at least, attempting to stab him.

"Kufufu, what did you call me, old man?" There was a dangerous glint in Mukuro's eye. Daemon's own eyes narrowed, and a mocking smirk spread across his face.

"A pineapple. I wasn't aware that you had horrible hearing on top of that horrible hairstyle. See, Tsunayoshi? You really should consider just having Dokuro Chrome to be your mist guardian."

Tsuna was already calculating the best way to leave the room.

Mukuro tried to hit Daemon again and was intercepted by Daemon's own scythe. The clash of metal against metal seemed to attract Yamamoto's attention.

"Oh, are we sparring?" he asked excitedly.

"Sparring?!" Ryohei roared with enthusiasm. "Count me in!"

"Hey, don't cause Jyuudaime extra work!" Gokudera, bless his soul, tried to stop them but he unceremoniously joined the fight when Yamamoto accidentally (? Tsuna hoped it was an accident) hit him on the head.

"Lambo wants to join in!"

"Hahi? Alright, then we won't lose!"

Tsuna edged towards the door and grasped the door. Why wouldn't it open?

"Crowding? Hmph, you will all be bitten to death."

Tsuna gave up any pretense of being courageous and started to claw at the mysteriously locked door. Reborn was a horrible demon and Tsuna would never cook for him ever again.

The door suddenly swung open and Tsuna fell out of the room. Immediately, the door was shut again and Tsuna was pulled to his feet.

"Do you see now why I refuse to be your guardian and right-hand?" Hana was smiling wryly. "I may be your friend, and yeah I'll die for you, but face that? No way."

Tsuna laughed hysterically until he cried. Hana bought him ice cream.

* * *

**KHRGamer Outtake V**

There was something wrong. There was something really, _really_ wrong.

"Dame-Tsuna," an unfamiliar voice said in a familiar way. "Stop spacing out."

He had awoken in a weird place, with the large words "Fantasy RPG DLC" hovering in front of his face. There was also an adult Reborn sitting at the side of his bed. On the other side was Kawahira and the [Level 9000+] words hovering above his head, standing and smiling down at Tsuna without a hint of hostility. In fact, there seemed to be _fondness_ of all things in his gaze.

Tsuna wanted to cry.

The door opened and his mother walked in. He gaped at the [Level MAX] floating above her head.

"Tsu-kun, it's time to go! We need to stop the Dark Lord Byakuran before he completely destroys Vongola Kingdom," she said seriously. A soup ladle was in her hand.

"Uh. Okay," Tsuna replied because he didn't know what else to say. Satisfied, Nana left the room. Tsuna numbly slid out of bed and discovered that he was wearing a maid outfit.

_Seriously. What?_

He touched the fluffy apron around his waist and a window popped in front of his face.

[DEF+7227, MDEF+7200]

His eyes narrowed. It seemed that he had literally been transported into an actual video game, tacky plot and all. The question was…

Why was _Byakuran_ the Dark Lord?

* * *

As he walked out of the room, Kawahira silently trailing behind him like a shadow, he observed his surroundings. It appeared that he was in an inn of some sort. He slowly, reluctantly, went down the stairs to see the entirety of Hamagure downstairs eating. Hamagure, the Varia, his mother, and a hooded figure were eating together and mingling around. They seemed to ignore Tsuna until he decided to interact with them, much to his relief. He still needed to get his thoughts together.

Kawahira followed him.

* * *

He took the time to further observe everyone around him. The clock on the wall was ticking, but its hands didn't seem to be moving. Some of his friends seemed to be wearing incredibly impractical clothes. Haru was wearing a kindergarten teacher outfit, Kyoko was wearing a kimono, Chrome was wearing a strange leather outfit, and Hana was wearing a business suit. Unlike the diversity of his female friends, most of his male friends were wearing butler outfits with the exception of Hibari wearing a vampire costume and Mukuro wearing a tacky magician outfit.

Thank god everyone else was wearing what they usually wore.

* * *

After some conversation with the people around him, he came to the disturbing realization that everyone still referred to Reborn as a baby even though he was _clearly_ an adult man over here. Also, no one seemed to notice Kawahira.

Tsuna poked Kawahira to find out that he was very much solid. When Kawahira smiled and hugged him without saying anything, Tsuna came to realize that Kawahira _was_ real, but just to him.

This sucked.

* * *

Tsuna was ready to leave. As he reached the door, an orange window popped up in front of him.

[Assemble your party!] it said. Tsuna slowly scrolled through the names and levels presented to him and stopped on one.

[Byakuran Gesso, Level 100]

Tsuna narrowed his eyes. Wasn't Byakuran supposed to be the Dark Lord? Why was he a choice for Tsuna's party? And Tsuna hadn't seen him around in the inn…

Slowly, he turned to look at the hooded figure in the corner. A flash of white and purple could be seen under the hood as the person turned to look at Tsuna. The [?, Level ?] above the person's head slowly turned into [Byakuran Gesso, Level 100]. Tsuna quickly turned back to the menu and immediately selected Hana and his mother to be part of his party.

The sooner he put together a party, the sooner he'd be out of the inn.

* * *

His party consisted of Hana, his mother, and him. And Kawahira too, he guessed, but the man didn't really do anything but follow him around. They hadn't run into any sort of monsters yet, thank god, but Tsuna was still alert.

"Hey Tsuna…" Hana began. Tsuna turned to look at her quizzically and saw that she was staring at Kawahira with a strange, conflicted look on her face. "That… there's a person behind you I think? I…" She scowled violently. "There's something wrong, but I don't know what. I may sound crazy but please believe me, there's something going on."

Tsuna looked at her with gratitude in his eyes. Even in another world, Hana was still his ally in sanity! He could have hugged her, but the world suddenly dissolved.

* * *

They had engaged in a fight with a mob. It was probably a slime, judging from the gooey black thing oozing in front of him. The world dissolving was just the gaming mechanic's way of transporting them into a battle screen.

Nana was the first one to move.

With a giggle, she smashed the slime into oblivion with the soup ladle she had been equipped with. Tsuna wondered what her level was.

The world dissolved back into world overview and the party trudged on.

* * *

"Your mother…" Hana whispered to Tsuna unsurely. "Wasn't she supposed to have stayed in Namimori Village?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Tsuna replied. Both of them shared a look of helpless confusion and dropped the topic to preserve their sanity.

* * *

After a while of killing things – watching his mother kill things, he meant – Tsuna was ready to call it a day and go back to the inn to rest. One step into the inn and he was tackled to the ground by Byakuran. Byakuran the Party Member and not Byakuran the Dark Lord. The latter was standing in the inn, cackling madly.

"Tsuna, you have to hide!" Byakuran the Party Member said at the same time Byakuran the Dark Lord caught sight of him.

"Ah, Tsunayoshi-kun," Byakuran the Dark Lord purred. "So kind of you to join us."

Hana was looking between the two Byakurans, frustrated confusion plain on her face. "There's something wrong, but I don't know what," she muttered to herself. Nana was frowning at Dark Lord Byakuran while Kawahira was _still_ smiling serenely behind him.

Byakuran the Dark Lord looked disdainfully at Byakuran the Party Member. "Hand over Tsunayoshi," he said. Byakuran the Party Member scowled and pulled Tsuna closer to him, hugging him to his chest.

"Never, he is _ours_!" Byakuran the Party Member hissed. Byakuran the Dark Lord said something in return which made Byakuran the Party Member retort. Tsuna's head spun as he tried to keep up. And he finally broke, curling into a ball and sobbing uncontrollably. No one could console him.

Remember friends: cheat codes are frowned down upon and may cause emotional trauma to unsuspecting characters. Say no to cheats!

* * *

**The Dating Sim I**

When Sawada Tsunayoshi had woken up to no longer see the names and levels floating above the heads of other people, he rejoiced. _Surely_ that meant that he had beaten the game that had taken over his life, right?

He could live his normal life now, the life he had before the irritating game mechanics had taken over.

He reveled in the normalcy of his morning routine. He could put on his clothes and look in the mirror without seeing the orange words above his head! He could read through a book without receiving any pop-ups of any kind! He could do things for his mother without any quest notifications ruining his concentration!

"Ah, it's such a beautiful day today!" Tsuna exclaimed as he stepped out of the door. "I'm going off, mother!"

"Have a safe trip!" Nana replied from inside the house.

Tsuna took one step off the front porch.

A guitar started to play. Tsuna almost dropped his bag in shock. In fact, he _would've_ dropped his bag in shock but he found himself unable to move as the world around him faded to white. Familiar scenes of places in Namimori faded in and out of view almost in time with the music.

[_An angel without wings said…_]

A voice started to sing and Tsuna stared at the two-dimensional person in front of him.

_Is… is that me?!_

[Sawada Tsunayoshi, CV…] was written over his picture. Tsuna narrowed his eyes, trying to read the words after 'CV' but he couldn't. The scene soon changed to Namimori Junior High, and two familiar faces showed up.

[Yamamoto Takeshi, CV…]

[Gokudera Hayato, CV…]

This… was going to take a while.

* * *

**Varia, Chapter III is the previous chapter**


End file.
